Old Churches--and Plenty of Them

Buon Giorno,
I covered a lot of ground today and am beginning to make more sense of the city--at least the historical center/tourist zone.  To offer an obscure literary reference: The only thing I have in common with Judith Starkadder is my love of old churches.  Naples is full of them, and many are glorious.
I began with a trip to a more local grocery store.  For one thing I was out of sweetner, but alas this one doesn't have everything I need so I'll have to make the trek to Piazza Garibaldi in a day or so.
I carefully mapped out a route that would take me past and to a lot of churches.  I bought a good map of the city yesterday, with the historical sites marked, and I took notes on where to go and what to see.  I went into seven churches--most free--some charging admission.  With one church after another (even if I don't discuss them all) reader fatigue would likely set in.
The biggest disappointment was the Museo Cappella San Severo.  I mean the Veiled Christ statue is remarkable, but it's not eight euros worth of remarkable, and while the chapel is crowded with stuff and highly decorated, I did not find it as compelling as other things I saw.
I went into San Lorenzo Maggiore to see the church, which is grand, but in a plainer Gothic style without Baroque exuberance  I may go back to visit the archeological site.
San Domenico Maggiore is huge and magnificent.  I especially liked some Late Gothic frescos by Pietro Cavallini, but many wonderful paintings of various periods are on display.  Just as I was leaving I was nearly trapped by a school party.  They looked like seventh graders and were not interested in letting me out.
The Gesu Nuovo was the grandest and most highly decorated of all.  It's truly stunning.  Packed with statuary, paintings, shrines and memorials, the church still gives an impression of order and harmony.
In contrast Santa Chiara is plain and austere inside and out--well except for the marvelous Majolica Cloister.  The walls of the cloister are frescoed, but columns and walls of beautifully hand painted scenes on majolica.  They depict everyday life out in the world and sometimes within the convent.
All these places (and I have not exhausted the sites) stand firmly in the Tourist Zone.  I used some genuinely pedestrianized streets, marked by many fewer motorcycles.  If you are in the mood to spend money on food, drink, or souvenirs Via Tribunali is the place to start.  Some is the usual tat, but I saw some truly lovely crafts and high end goods.  Also your desire for a life-size statue of the Virgin Mary can be realized.
"Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti." Not said by me but Sophia Loren (and if you are young you can just google her).  Pasta is a surprisingly contentious topic among food historians.  First of all, let's please discard that ridiculous story that Marco Polo brought noodles back from China.  The real issue is the existence and use of durum wheat, and no one really knows its origin.  But durum wheat creates dough that can be dried and kept for years, and then boiled into edibility.  But when and where?  Sicily seems to be the place that has the first records of a pasta-like something sometime in the twelfth century.  Pasta may have been developed by Arabs in North Africa--or not.  At any rate my current city of Naples is the pasta capital of the Entire Galaxy.  The best comes from here, and consumption started early and stayed strong.  The theory is Italians developed the fork because it was easier to eat hot, sauced pasta that way.  The use of the tomato had to wait until long after the Americas were discovered.
All this is to say that spaghetti pomodoro is still satisfying, especially when I doctor it up with garlic, oil, and parmesan.  And the lovely Campanian red wine to accompany.
Ciao.