{"product_id":"virgils-golden-egg-and-other-neapolitan-miracles-1","title":"Virgil's Golden Egg and Other Neapolitan Miracles","description":"\u003cp\u003eNeapolitans are considered the cleverest, most imaginative, most romantic, and the most entertaining people in Italy. The world's finest men's fashions, Italy's most celebrated popular songs and plays, and a high proportion of popular and operatic singers are all from Naples. Past Italian literary awards portray an amazingly high proportion of Neapolitans receiving the greatest honours.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNeapolitan creativity survived centuries of foreign occupation, widespread misery, the end of its role as a great capital city, repeated natural catastrophes, and terrible epidemics. What accounts for the creativity of Naples? The sorcerer Virgil is said to have created a Golden Egg, inside a crystal sphere, to save Naples from natural catastrophe. The egg, locked in an iron cage, was buried beneath a castle—still known as the \"Egg Castle\"—to maintain stability and to give eternal life to Naples. Michael A. Ledeen suggests some other surprising answers in a highly original exploration of Neapolitan life and death that ranges from religion to organized crime, war, and violence.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor \u0026 Francis Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54248219246936,"sku":"9781412854795","price":64.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781412854795.jpg?v=1769742043","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/virgils-golden-egg-and-other-neapolitan-miracles-1","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}