'There are places that you go to, and once is enough," John Turturro offers at the beginning of Passione: A Musical Adventure. "And then there is Napoli."
As puckish tour guide and ardent fan, the actor and director strolls the decayed majesty of Naples - graffiti-scrawled, garbage-strewn, but still somehow magnificent - stopping to listen to singers sing, drummers drum, to musicians muse on the meaning of it all.
An unabashed celebration of a city with a multicultural musical heritage - Arab, African, and Eastern influences, French and Spanish, and, with Italy's occupation at the end of World War II, American - Passione is a surprise and a delight from beginning to end. The canzone Napoletana is marked by keening emotion, irony and romance, and an almost operatic assertiveness. There is nothing meek about this music - it will either break your heart with its lilting sadness, or get you to your feet dancing with joy.
