Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button below.
Castel Nuovo – Naples, Italy
Commissioned by King Charles I of Anjou the Castel Nuovo was built between 1279 and 1282. It was to be his new centralized seat of power over his vast holdings from Tuscany down to Southern Italy, as well as the newly conquered island of Sicily.
The name Castel Nuovo (New Castle) was meant to differentiate it from two others already in existence in the region.
In researching before our trip I found out just how confusing and convoluted the history of much of Italy is; particularly after the fall of the Roman Empire.
I won’t even begin to try to do it justice here because there’s just so much that I simply don’t know.
What I can tell you is that it served as both a royal residence and a fortress for most of its seven-plus centuries and it changed hands along with the succession of rulers who conquered or captured this part of the world during that time.
The castle was modified and added on to a number of times over the centuries to suit the preferences of the new occupants.
We did a short tour of the castle which included a visit to the dungeons which were so dark and dank that none of my shots beyond this door turned out very well 😦
We did get a great view of the bay of Naples with Mount Vesuvius off in the distance from one of the walkways between the towers.
Honestly there were only a few interesting doors within courtyard.
A bonus was this wonderful 15th century fresco above the main door.
But for me the star of the castle was the main door itself. Even from the inside it had some noteworthy features, including a door within the door.
The carved bronze outer layer with all of its detail is simply stunning.
You can see where it was damaged by cannon shot in a few spots.
Despite the damage, the door is exceptionally well-preserved, and it’s well worth taking the time to explore the castle just for the humbling feeling of being in a structure that has been around for over 730 years.
After visiting the Colosseum in Rome a few days earlier Castel Nuovo was the second the oldest building I had ever visited.
What’s the oldest building you have ever been in?
As always, thank you for visiting 🙂
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It looks like an incredible place, Norm! The history and oh if the ‘doors’ could talk! Cher xo
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Wow!! That main door is phenomenal. I can’t begin to imagine the work that goes into creating a bronze piece like that.
I was recently reading about Naples. Only because I stumbled across an Amy Lyon (Lady Emma Hamilton) who lived there in the 1700’s and was a friend of the Queen of Naples. Sometimes a google check of your name and hometown (Florida, not Italy though) leads to interesting discoveries. lol.
I believe that the oldest building that I have been inside would be St. Margaret’s Chapel (c. 1130) at Edinburgh Castle. Notre Dame in Paris was a close second. 🙂
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A fascinating site and an incredible front door. In answer to your question, I’ve been to the Pantheon in Rome, believed to be built in 120 AD. Have a wonderful week! 🙂
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Truly magnificent, Norm. That main door is something else with the detailed metalwork.
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Even the ‘modern’ doors look old 🙂
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nice bronze door. I guess the door within the door was for the tiny people.
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Or the normal sized people..and the big one was for giants 😉
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Very interesting place and doors. The old door (last one in the post) is beautiful and my favorite. We spent two days in Naples while traveling in the Amalfi Coast and vicinities, but we didn’t visit the Castel Nuovo. I must say I found the city too dirty, noisy and chaotic, and wasn’t crazy about the locals either… They are not as friendly as others in the region. But I must admit there are lots of beautiful things to see in the city.
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Totally agree with your assessment of Naples, Angela. Not sure I would go back there but I`m glad we visited the old historic district and some of the other main landmarks.
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Love that bronze door, that canon ball damage brings the past alive 🙂
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It sure brought home the notion that this place was a working fortress that had faced attacks.
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In your estimation there might only be “a few” doors, but all the sculpted materials are out of this world!! Thanks for sharing:)
The oldest we visited must be (one of the walls) the Great Wall in China, built in 221 BC
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The Great Wall must be impressive to see in-person 🙂
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Unfortunately we went in August -time for the rainy season there, and a heavy fog that day – so, not good for pics:) Surprisingly, most of the visitors (it was busy!) were Chinese, not from foreigners.
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Wow, fabulous place and rustic doors! Great photos, Norm!
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Thank you!
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I wonder if the feeling of awe is the same for the locals? I’m pretty much at a loss for words on most doors posts from Europe. So happy you two could have this experience! And share it here:)
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We found most of the locals to be pretty blasé about the historical treasures they have all around them.
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Magnificent doors with so much history (despite its confusing and convoluted nature)! I know it’s not a door, but that fresco is my favorite.
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Yes that fresco is pretty impressive 🙂
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Fantastic!!! Each of these photos is exquisite. The shot with the helmet … I keep going back to it. Kinda tells a story.
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Thanks Janet. Even though it’s not a door I had to squeeze that helmet shot in. I do keep going back to it as well.
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Simply majestic. Sadly I just didn’t have time to do doors this week, but most rewarding to view everyone else’s.
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Thank you Stephen 🙂
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Absolutely the blue castle doors, featuring door in door and badass hardware of yore! Marvelous collection, but yes, blue castle door 🙂
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“Badass hardware of yore” 😀 – I just know I’m gonna ‘borrow’ that line at some point.
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😀
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In spite of 3 visits to Italy, I’ve never seen Naples – unless you want to count the couple of hours we were horribly lost, white-knuckle driving through the most convoluted traffic I’ve ever seen. If this is an example of what I’ve missed, I’m heartbroken.
Wow. That’s all I can say. Wow. You had me captivated from the very first photo 💕
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The convoluted traffic is still there Joanne 😀 So is the trash everywhere and the diesel and Vespa fumes. All the same, the historic old part of town and the area down by the bay are well worth taking a few days to explore. We wanted to do a half-day kayak excursion around the bay but we were running short on time, plus it was too darn hot for me 😦
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omg – the Vespa fumes! That’s why I hated Florence so much. Poor Florence, I really need a do-over there.
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Wonderful doors in a wonderful place. Don’t you just love the history? Sounds like you are enjoying your Italian visit.
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The history has me fascinated. We’ve been back for a few weeks now but yes, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there 🙂
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A castle! YAY! I love the door within the door.
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Everyone loves a nice castle 🙂
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The oldest building I’ve been in was the Colosseum, or some other equally old Italian joint. Maybe the Roman baths in Bath, England? Fuzzy on my comparative history. Wonderful doors, as always, Norm!
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Thanks Marian. For us North Americans anything over 500 years seems ancient 🙂
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We had tour guides who were Italian history professors and I agree, it’s a convoluted history! Looks like you got some excellent weather – I heard that it hailed in Rome yesterday!
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I know, eh? I find it so hard to keep track of who’s who and who conquered what, where and when. Such a dense, rich history so such a relatively small place.
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The oldest building I have been in is the Kaiserburg Castle in Nuremberg.
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I had never hear of that one but from what I saw online it would be a little older than than Castelo Nuovo then. Pretty impressive isn’t it?
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The damage caused by the cannons really shows that this very much was a working castle!
In addition to the fresco, the ceiling detail caught my eye. I always marvel at the detail put into these buildings.
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Thanks Leah. Details, yes. That’s the one thing we found everywhere in Italy; they were always paying attention to the little details 🙂
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Nice set of doors…Naples is a chaotic and fascinating city. (Suzanne)
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Thanks Suzanne. Chaotic and dirty, but very much fascinating in so many ways 🙂
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Applesauce… Doors and castles! I’m downright giddy! Great photos, Norm. Hugs.
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Thank you so much Teagan – hugs right back 🙂
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What a gorgeous (and enormous) place, Norm! I like all the doors and photos but my favorite shot is the brown door surrounded by the golden walls. It just jumps out with luminosity.
janet
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Thanks Janet. It’s funny how the low light effect caused the walls to almost glow. It was so dark in there that even at high ISO and boosting the exposure in Lightroom wasn’t enough to salvage my other indoor shots.
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Oh my, oh my, what a masterpiece of a door! And I love it how you put this post together. You need to come back so that I can see more of Italy too. 😉
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It was a fascinating place to visit. The opera house Teatro di San Carlo was another highlight of our time in Napoli. They’re relatively close to each other so if you ever get down that way… 🙂
Need to go back?! Easy there, we just got home 😀
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It’s amazing to me that building have survived so long, and this one seems to be in pretty good condition. Great photos and that main door is magnificent, Norm. I assume the bar pinned to the center is a locking mechanism.
I’ve visited an old church in England, but I think it only dates to the 1600’s. Of course, even the oldest stuff we have in the States, pales by comparison.
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Thanks Dan. Yes the bar is there to prevent the door from being pushed open. I don’t know if it’s part of the original design or something that was added at some point.
For us in North America anything over 500 years old is downright ancient.
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In the past I’ve passed by Naples without stopping. Your wonderful photos are among those which tell me I should stop doing this, and actually spend some time in Naples.
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Yes I would suggest stopping to explore if you can. Like most of the big cities in Italy, Naples is chaotic and a little rough around the edges, but we found lots to admire in the old historical district and down by the bay. And of course Pompeii & Herculaneum are both within a half hour of town by train.
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I last passed through Naples on the way to Capri, and did Pompeii and Herculaneum by boat from there. But yes, Naples looks like an interesting place by itself.
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I spent a couple of weeks crossing Italy a few years back but must admit I didn’t keep track of the years the buildings were erected and wasn’t into doors at that time so I don’t have any of them either. 😦 All handsome doors, and I think you get the award this week because I don’t think any of us will have doors from the 1200’s. 🙂
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Thanks Judy. There are a few pre-ThursdayDoors trips I’d like to do over just so I could capture the doors I wasn’t paying attention to back then 🙂
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The defect in the Italian door reminds me of Michael Caine’s exclamation in the first Italian Job film, “I only asked you to blow the bloody doors off!” This is how it should have been done…
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🙂
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The metalwork covering the door is superb, well captured, Norm.
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Thank you Ian.
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