Naples. A walk in the park of Villa Rosebery overlooking the sea of Posillipo, lunch with President Mattarella and then in the afternoon a tour of the beauties of the historic center, with Mayor de Magistris as an exceptional guide: a Neapolitan day for the German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a visit to the Neapolitan capital. The German head of state arrived by train shortly after 11 am at Naples Central Station accompanied by his wife Elke Buedenbender. First stop at the Goethe Institut before being received for breakfast by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, at the residence of Villa Rosebery. “Today we are in Naples and we are approaching that South that I know very well. What we see is that the South radiates enormous culture and pride, but we also know that there have been decades of bitter poverty that have forced many citizens to move to the North,” Steinmeier told the Goethe, recalling the “four million men and women” who moved to Germany in the 60s to work for 10 or 20 years, before returning to Italy. Having fulfilled his institutional commitments, in the afternoon the German president went to discover the heart of the city: the Veiled Christ, the Decumani, the majolica cloister of Santa Chiara, the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità are some of the beauties of the historic center of Naples visited. To welcome him, in Piazza del Gesù, the mayor of Naples, Luigi de Magistris, with whom he walked through the streets of the center. For Steinmeier, selfies and handshakes, in Piazza San Domenico, with a group of compatriots from Freiburg on holiday in Naples. Steinmeier then went to the Locanda del Grifo, a place whose owners have always been on the front lines against the pizzo. A surprise awaits him: a buffet of typical Neapolitan desserts. Then stop at the Sansevero Chapel to admire the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino. In Santa Chiara, welcomed by the vicar of the conventual house, friar Francesco Piccolo, he met some Neapolitan artists and writers and was given a reproduction of the cloister's majolica. “I saw him very impressed by the beauty and humanity of our city,” de Magistris said at the end of the tour. It was in the Rione Sanità that Steinmeier had another little surprise: waiting for him, outside the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità, was a group of German students. Here the German president met Don Antonio Loffredo, parish priest of the district, who gave him a crucifix made from the wood of one of the migrant boats that arrived in Lampedusa. Once in the Basilica, Steinmeier attended a rehearsal of the Sanitansamble orchestra. The musicians, directed by Paolo Acunzo, performed several musical pieces, including: the Ode to Joy, the German and Italian national anthems, the Jipsy overture, and Tammurriata della Sanità by Daniele Sepe. Steinmeier arrived at Sanità following a recommendation from a delegation from the German Embassy that had been to the church of San Severo fuori le mura, headquarters of the Sanitansamble, last July, appreciating the music of the young orchestra. At the end of the performance, the musicians presented Steinmeier with a CD and a horn.
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