Conan Doyle in Naples
Conan Doyle in Naples is an article written by Enrico Solito published in "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle : Viaggio in Italia / Italian Journey" edited by Gianluca Salvatori, Enrico Solito & Roberto Vianello, in 2012 (Bobi Bazlen Edizion).
Conan Doyle in Naples
By Enrico Solito.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in a letter to his mother sent from Venice that he would stay at Parker's in Naples. But later he must have changed his mind. We found an article on the main Neapolitan newspaper "Il Mattino", dated 21 october 1907, according which he actually stayed at the "Hotel Vésuve" :
- Conan Doyle in Naples
- The most popular and also most original of the contemporary English writers arrived yesterday in our city, together with his gentle lady. Conan Doyle, the creator of the immortal cliché of the amateur detective, that Sherlock Holmes who penetrates the most complicate mysteries of the obscure dramas of the London metropolis using only his acute observation powers and the logical deduction based on his observations, thus arriving to amazing results. Conan Doyle, a former doctor and an excellent one, who was then won over by the fascination of Literature, changed the so called "legal novel" — brutal, violent, sensational — giving it a touch of truth, humanity and art, because he is actually an artist who can chain the reader by means of apparently simple and linear devices, which have nevertheless a deep tissue of beauty. But he has been, and still loves to be, a journalist, a great reporter with an acute eye and a good but not excessive literary form. During the South African war, where he went as a journalist but also to take care of and help the most needy people, he depicted in vivid pictures, with a strength even more sensible because arising from a carefully controlled truth, the greatest and most pathetic events of that epic whose violence was surpassed only by few other contemporary conflicts, and he contributed with his activity as a writer and a honest journalist to stop the useless hurricane of weapons and blood.
- Now the illustrious and nicest English writer, who recently married one beautiful and intellectual fan of him, is staying at the Hotel Vésuve, on our fascinating riviera, delighting himself of the sweet Neapolitan Autumn: but it is also said that he, an old admirer of Naples, came here to study again the habits of this poor plebs of us, tormented by the leprosy of organised crime, to use them as a source for his next novels. He, who so deeply knows the enormous and impassable miseries of certain abandoned and dismal corners of the British metropolis and with the spirit of a sociologist and the heart of a poet has described them, so that mankind can mitigate them and make them gradually disappear; he will not be astonished to discover that, if this depressed and humiliated plebs of us is so similar to that living in White Chapel, yet it is not responsible of this situation. Just like in London, so little has been done to bring it to enjoy the light and the blue of a better sky!
The text proves not only that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was so popular in the public eye to justify such a long newspaper article – of an unusual length, even for important visitors –, not only that Sherlock Holmes was considered his main work, but it also confirms that he was staying at the Vésuve.
This finding has been confirmed by a letter discovered by Russell Merritt, BSI. The letter was written at the Grand Hotel de Rome. This is a confirmation of Stefano Guerra's deduction that ACD slept there during his stay in Rome and this is the reason for his collecting of a postcard depicting the Fontana dell'Acqua Felice, just next to it. The Hotel was, and still is, one of the most luxurious in the city, established on 11 january 1894 by Ceasar Ritz. It was the first luxurious hotel in Rome, just near the Railway Station, as in many other great cities.
The hotel was the most technologically advanced of his age, with electric lights everywhere and a private bathroom in every room, including hot water and heating. Once again ACD was spoiling his young wife.
In the letter ACD writes that his next address in Napoli will be the "Hotel de Vesuvius".
 |
 |
Why did ACD change his mind? Probably because he had stayed at Parker's with his first wife and family in the past, and thought to bring his young bride to another hotel.
The "Hotel Vésuve", today "Grand Hotel Vesuvio", was, once again, one of the most beautiful and expensive in Naples; just in front (on the other side of the road, actually) of Castel dell'Ovo, whose picture is found among the postcards collected in the Album 1. Established in 1882 by Oscar du Mesneil and visited by Queen Victoria of Sweden, Axel Munthe, Guy du Maupassant, and Oscar Wilde, this luxurious hotel was situated exactly on the new seafront built during the redevelopment of the poorest district of Naples, on what is today known as "The Promenade of the Englishmen" : the seafront that continues toward Posillipo and La Gaiola. From the windows of their room, ACD and Jean could easily look at the sea and the coast, watching out for the arrival of the boat of Nelson Foley.
