From the WMG Research Library

It is a curious thing, the reason of it being not certainly known to me-though I conjecture it might be poverty-why, when all the other monarchs of Europe were still building palaces in marble and granite, the kings of that anomalous and ill-fated kingdom called Of Naples and the Two Sicilies chose to build theirs in red brick.

Opening line from “Naples” by Avram Davidson.