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.
Teatro di San Carlo and surroundings – Naples, Italy
Picking up where we left off at Castel Nuovo in Naples last week, a few blocks from the castle you will come across another historical treasure; the Teatro di San Carlo.
The building is wedged into a public square, the Piazza Plebiscito at an odd angle, so I just couldn’t get a good shot showing much of the exterior.
Commissioned by Bourbon King Charles (Carlo) III of Naples, in its current seating configuration the theater can accommodate close to 1400 patrons.
First opening in 1737 it is the oldest continuously running opera house in Europe and is still considered one of grandest ones in the world.
The foyer and waiting areas are just as lovely as the theater.
Polished marble floors, antique furniture, and statues of old dead opera guys everywhere!
And a few simple, but elegant looking doors.
During our tour we learned how the king had a secret tunnel built to connect the theater directly to the nearby royal palace so that he would not have to mingle with his subjects.
Just imagine, when attending a performance he would be able to go straight to his royal box without having to come in contact with any riff-raff 😀
Our guide explained that on the very first opening night, the King discovered one of the drawbacks of slinking in and out without fanfare.
It seems the people in the theater were not even aware when he arrived in his box to take his seat, and they went about their business, chatting and whatnot. The king was aghast that none of his subjects showed him proper respect by rising until he took his seat!
Since the idea of throwing 1400 people into a dungeon didn’t seem too practical, the king did come up with a solution to prevent this kind of slight from happening again.
Any guesses?
Mirrors were added to each of the other boxes, angled precisely to give patrons a perfect view of the royal box. Now no one could use the excuse that they didn’t see the royals arrive.
After our tour I was feeling a little door deprived, so we took a walk around the square; here are a few of the nice doors we found:
As always, thank you for visiting 🙂
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Thanks for calling around at OMBH! ‘Tis great to meet the Norm of the door challenge I have seen others do so often! I rather enjoy doing door posts… and Dublin is just a treat for the enthusiast of the plank in the hole!
I’ll have a look-see if you’ve been around here before… but, if you haven’t, you should make a plan!
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Thank you and welcome 🙂
We do doors here each week from Thursday through Saturday so any time you have some worth sharing you’re more than welcome to join in. The more the merrier.
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Wow Norm!! That Opera House is just stunning. The white doors with the gold trim remind me of some of the doors at Versailles, but based on the opulence of that theater, I’m not surprised. That’s too funny about the mirrors. I mean, how dare they not acknowledge his secretive entrance?! lol. I also love that tall door with the circular discs.
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Pretty cool stuff eh? I would have loved to see a concert there but the timing didn’t work out. Hopefully I’ll see Versailles some day for myself 🙂
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Lovely history and photos of the theatre, another spot to add to my list of places I want to visit. The door with the children is my favorite! 🙂
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Yes, the choice-door turned out to be the most popular from this batch 🙂
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I loved the chocolate store door! Missed the Mr. Linky cutoff but had already posted.
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Magnificent photos, Norm and what an opportunity to experience this place in person. However, personally, I found all that gold too much and felt I’d need sunglasses if I went in there. At the same time, the painting on the ceiling was fantastic. I much preferred the foyer which was absolutely exquisite. Last week, I went back to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where my grandmother taught and performed in the 1970s and 1980s. They’ve subsequently extended and renovated it even though the current version is very tasteful, I couldn’t help missing the original. It has such character.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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This place is crazy cool and so stylish! 😮 What a feeling it must be to stand or sit in there, during a performance, even! There are also several other magnificent grand doors you show us. If anything, Italy cures one of door deprivation. 😉 Lovely, Norm.
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Thanks Manja. If we do ever go back, I will try my best to time it so we can actually catch a concert there.
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beautiful theater. nice doors too.
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Thank you 🙂
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That theater is amazing. Such luxury, but it’s the Chocostore door that would lure me in, lol.
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Thanks Jean. Yes the Chocostore seems to be the unanimous winner this week.
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The shots with the people show the scale of those large doors and I did see the door within the door – and enjoyed the history here today Norm
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Thank you!
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OK, you’re just showing off here! 😉 Those doors are amazing and your photos make them shine like the stars they are. Very pretty.
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Very kind of you. Thanks Ally 🙂
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What a clever king! 😀 That theatre is gorgeous
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It would have been so cool to see a concert there but alas the timing was not meant to be.
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Next time!
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Definitely impressive.
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Thanks Sherry 🙂
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what an incredibly beautiful (and opulent) Teatro! Another thing I missed in Napoli. And you found some wonderful doors. The last one, the Chocostore, I remember very well from our visit. I loved it and took a couple of pictures of it, but the sun was hitting it in a funny way so they didn’t come out good. Yours is fabulous. Great captures!
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Thanks Angela. I took another look at my choco-door shot and I guess I got lucky on the time of day. The angle of the sun was barely just right for the door to be totally in shadows.
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Mirrors, Mirrors, on the boxes, who is the most narcissistic of them all?
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😀 Yeah, that’s about it. Any wonder why people rose up and overthrew monarchies all over the world?
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😂
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Holy Heaven, get a loada the gilded opulence of that place?!? Who wouldn’t stare? I am truly awed. And humbled. Which is something you can’t expect from kings, apparently.
I’m not gonna lie, much as I love, love, love the theatre di whoa, I am most fond of the last door’s double sweetness 🙂
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I was a little bummed that the timing didn’t work for us to catch a concert there but I’m awfully glad that guided tours were available. It is just so beautiful in there.
Yes I thought that choco-door might be a hit this week 🙂
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Wow! Makes me wanna go see. Grand ibdeed!
Pat R
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If you get the chance to, it’s well worth visiting this place 🙂
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Looks like it. Thanks for the introduction😊
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Dusty Italian doors, then wow! Massive doors, very impressive.
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Thanks Ian 🙂
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Another hit post, Hugh. Love the Opera House. Some great doors, and that Chocostore door, so cute.
My thought was that the King would have someone announce his entry, but mirrors? No, never would have thought of that 🙂
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I woulda thought trumpets or something, right?
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LOL! Yes 🙂
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Amazing how you don’t see those 25ft tall people around much these days.
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I know right? 😀
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You can definitely see who originally set the bar for opulence! So lovely to see.Can’t imagine it in person.
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It’s pretty special to see in person. It’s just too bad the timing didn’t work for us to see a show.
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It is sooo grand, so over the top, I have no adequate words! Like the simple elegance of the halls more though than the “busyness” of the auditorium itself though. Great respect for anyone who can paint on a a ceiling and finish it! The door of the chocolate store is so cute – hard to ignore!
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That’s pretty much what I thought while visiting this place. I was very quiet just soaking it all in.
Yes the choco-doors are my fave from this set as well 🙂
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That’s a lot of gold leaf! Interesting about the mirrors. Love the chocolate doors and cupid sculptures over the doors.
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Thanks Jan. I had to include the Choco-doors and it seems to be the winner this week 🙂
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Any one else getting a really irritating 5-second wait (with free ads) before getting to each blog post? Not thrilled. Norm, I know it’s not your fault, but it’s not much fun.
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Yeah. This seems new and I’m not thrilled about it either 😦
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Looks like they’re trying to monetize it, with a place to click if you want to do your own InLinkz for free. Sigh.
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Oh my, oh my! I can’t find the words to do justice to that theatre! But I do know one thing – I’ve just added it to my list. I wanna go!!!
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We visited La Scala in Milan back in 2013 and I was floored then. This place is over 50 years older than La Scala and was essentially used as a starting point for their design. If you are ever in Naples, yes this should be on your list. Better still if you can actually see a show. None were playing while we were there 😦
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I think you saved the best until last, today, Norm. I always appreciate the history, Let me see if I have this straight. I want to sneak in to the theater so I don’t have to acknowledge any of you riff-raff, but I want you to notice my arrival and stand until I take my seat. I’d say I’m glad we’ve moved beyond such petty narcissism, but…
Beautiful photos. I can see it must have been challenging, but you did very well.
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Or perhaps we’re heading back towards such petty narcissism from some of our leaders…but we won’t wander too far down that path now will we? 😀
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That theatre–so much fancy! And this: “statues of old dead opera guys” cracked me up. The mirror trick was a good one; I would have had a trumpeter blow an announcement, show-off that I am.
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Thanks Marian. Glad to know we both agree that old dead opera guys rock!
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Such grand doors in the olden days. Beautiful pictures.
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Grand indeed. Thank you 🙂
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Happy All Saints Day!
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And to you as well 🙂
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This may be one of the classiest places you’ve ever posted on your blog. Love the old world feel of elegant craftsmanship.
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It is a pretty classy place. I would have loved to attend a show there but there was nothing playing for the four days we were in Naples 😦
Perhaps if I get to go back one day….
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Those doors are huge! Lovely post, thank you fro sharing with us.
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They are missive aren’t they? I waited to catch some foot traffic in front of them to show the scale.
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The scale was quite helpful!
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The chocostore door is the best!
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Yes indeed, I agree 🙂
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No contest this week. The chocolate shop doors are my favorite and a needed antidote to the opulence of the opera. 🙂 You did find some lovely doors, that’s for sure. And we’re once again reminded that many things are just smoke and mirrors. After all, the king apparently appeared from nowhere (smoke) and then he had the mirrors as well. OK, I’m done. I think my brain needs breakfast. 🙂
janet
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Thanks Janet. The choco-shop door was too cute – I just had to stop and capture it.
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Wow! How gorgeous!….but maybe the money should have gone to people in need…still, fabulous doors.
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No arguments here about where the money should have been spent 🙂
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Norm, please look at my links. The 2nd one should work (# 9) but I keep getting an ad?
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Fixed. BTW I left the setting so that people can delete their own links if they have a problem.
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Thanks so much! There must have been something wrong on my side, because first the computor couldn’t find the server, and after I put the link in, it kept going back to ads, instead of to the “garbage can” to delete my link.
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Great assortment of doors with some dressed fit for a king and others needing a little tlc. Enjoyed the history lesson as well. Now, if you had just brought us some chocolate back from that cute door. 🙂
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Can you imagine? We’d just had lunch so I didn’t even go in to check out their wares. I’m regretting it now of course… 🙂
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I’m imagining being a performer on the stage at this theatre looking out at all that grandeur. It would be a privilege and an honour to aspire to … far more likely than ever getting to sit in the Royal Box 😉
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I know what you mean. It must be a humbling experience. If I were a performer I’d probably spend my entire first show onstage with a huge lump in my throat.
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So much to love about this post. The Theatre is sumptuous – truly magnificent. As for the doors outside, well…what a selection. Love those really high doors, and the Chocostore doors are beautiful. Ahhh Italia!
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Thank you. Glad you liked them 🙂
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