Guglia dell'Immacolata

This guide to the Guglia dell'Immacolata in Naples centers on a December ritual: a Neapolitan firefighter climbing twenty-two meters up this marble spire, past four carved Jesuit saints, to lay a crown of flowers in the hand of the copper Virgin at the top. It also traces how the spire came to stand here at all, after a bronze statue of King Philip the Fifth on this spot was pulled down by Austrian troops within five years, prompting the Jesuits to raise money door to door for a replacement. You'll hear about the sculptors who carved it. Look up before the crowds gather to see just how high that climb really is.