Superstition and Orientalism in Il ventre di Napoli by Matilde Serao

Naples fascinates and attracts readers and tourists thanks to its history and its people, who are especially known for their prejudices, superstitions, and the social gap between the poor and the wealthy. Matilde Serao (1856–1927) masterfully describes this city and its inhabitants in her novels, stories, and articles. In this chapter, her 1884 novel, The Belly of Naples (Il ventre di Napoli), will be analyzed from the perspective of Orientalism, evident in Serao’s reaction to the Italian government’s provocative proposal “to gut Naples.” This chapter will focus on the distinctive superstition and religious fanaticism of the Neapolitans, the unresolved Southern Question seen through Serrao’s eyes, and finally, inspired by recent events, a parallelism between the handling of cholera and COVID-19 will be presented.