A を締めるing 小衝突 with Naples: On the eve of a rare UK Caravaggio show, follow in the artist's footsteps on a 小旅行する of his spiritual home

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If only Caravaggio had stopped at the artichokes.

The Italian artist, one of the greatest of the 17th century, had a prodigious talent ― and a temper to match.

粉砕するing a waiter in the 直面する with a plate of the vegetables was the most 抑制するd 行為／法令／行動する in a 犯罪の career that featured 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 brawls, drunken rampages, 申し立てられた／疑わしい 性の 強襲，強姦 and a 刑務所，拘置所 breakout.

So far, so bad. Then in Rome, in 1609, things turned even uglier.

Getting into a fight, 恐らく over a game of tennis, he drew his sword, 殺人ing his 対抗者. With a death 令状 on his 長，率いる, he fled south to Naples. 支配するd by Spain, this 栄えるing city was out of Rome’s 裁判権. So here, at least until his next 行為／法令／行動する of stupendous folly, he was 安全な. It was here that he produced some of his most famous 絵s.

Masterpiece:?Deirdre Fernand travels to Naples (pictured) to 調査する the 遺産／遺物 of Italian artist?Caravaggio, who fled to the city in the 17th century?

So it is to Naples that the 国家の Gallery is looking for its 最新の 展示, The Last Caravaggio, which opens in London?next Thursday. It will 焦点（を合わせる） on his final work, The 殉教／苦難 Of St Ursula.

He has 挿入するd himself into the picture. It was to be his final self-portrait. Nine weeks later he was dead from a fever 老年の 38.

What better place to go in search of Caravaggio (born Michelangelo Meravisi in 1571) than Naples, Italy’s third largest city after Rome and Milan.

The gateway to the Amalfi coast and Pompeii, the city rarely features as a 目的地 in itself. More’s the pity.

‘Best 見解（をとる） ever,’ whooped my husband from the balcony of our hotel, the Paradiso. Beyond us lay the silvery-blue bay of Naples and 開始する Vesuvius gleaming in 日光.

When Caravaggio arrived in 1610, he was already a Baroque-星／主役にする, 称讃するd as a 後継者 to Leonardo and Michelangelo. Just three of the 80 or so 絵s せいにするd to him remain in the city.

Caravaggio's Seven 行為／法令／行動するs Of Mercy on 陳列する，発揮する at?the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia

Above, a portrait of Caravaggio

This historic 解決／入植地, first colonized by the Greeks in 600BC, has more than 450 churches and a 絡まる of 中世 streets.

Feeling lost, panic 掴むd us. Then we clapped 注目する，もくろむs on the artist himself. A 奇蹟?

No, just a Caravaggio lookalike, in 17th centu ry garb, drumming up 商売／仕事 outside the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia.

Here, we 設立する ourselves in 前線 of the artist’s 課すing altarpiece, The Seven 行為／法令／行動するs Of Mercy.?

It 描写するs a 一連の good 作品, such as feeding the hungry and caring for the sick.

His genius was to 連合させる these 行為s into one grand composition and place all the 活動／戦闘s on an ordinary Naples street.

The city has always been a place of 巡礼の旅 for more than just art lovers. Some ask for 奇蹟s from San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples. Others come to 支払う／賃金 homage to Maradona, the 伝説の Argentinian football 星／主役にする who brought glory to Napoli in the 1980s. The player, who died four years ago, features on a 巨大（な） mural in the Spanish ４半期/4分の1.

And then there are the millions who come for the 廃虚s of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Visiting the former on a 有望な afternoon with guide Luca, we tramped up and 負かす／撃墜する 古代の roads, trying to imagine the lives of the 国民s who met their death when Vesuvius 爆発するd in AD79.

Deirdre reve als that Naples has some 450 churches and a '絡まる of 中世 streets'

Naples is the gateway to the Amalfi coast and Pompeii, above, with 開始する Vesuvius in the background

Luca was unimpressed by our knowledge of Roman emperors and made us 約束 to go to the city’s 国家の Archaeological Museum to learn more.

Buying a children’s guide to the 古代の world (加える a slice of Neapolitan pizza), we sat in the cafe and swotted up.

Augustus, Nero, Titus... how much there was to know.

We 約束d to return to this teeming but thrilling city. Come for Caravaggio, stay for Caesar.