Vohu Manu

Naples is a city of ancient tradition. One of the many traditions is the Via Formidilosus, the Path of Terror. The first recorded instance of this is in the 13th century when Naples again became a busy nexus of land and sea trade, filled with careening carts through the cobbled streets. However some sources claim that the tradition goes back to Roman times and particular icons such as the popular Petrified Janus (with both faces frozen in panic) celebrate the same activity, but I digress.

The simple motion of the tradition is to close one´s eyes, scream as loud and as long as possible and attempt to dash across the road. The drivers around you (originally in carts, now in cars) will honk their horns in appreciation of the tradition and speed up to show onlookers how courageous you are. They would never, under any circumstances, slow or even Heaven forbid stop their vehicles to allow a pedestrian to cross. To do so is to call one a coward and Naples´ history is filled with tales of duels to the death which eventuated because of this insult.

In the spirit of liberation which was the Renaissance a slightly modified tradition arose. That of running, of course, screaming, but also of keeping one´s eyes open wide in such a way to show that you see the grim spectre of Death across the other side, scythe in hand, beaconing you to join the restless souls at his side.

This tradition remained unmodified until until after the wars to unify Italy in the 19th century. Returned soldiers adopted the attitude of laughing maniacally as they ran, their unfocused eyes glinting with the horror they had seen as brother slew brother and the hills ran red with gore, showing that they feared no mortal pain or petty punishment that this transitory world could deal them. Though this practice can still be seen today it is by no means the more popular, and will elicit disapproving frowns from the more conservative elements of society.