Introduction
Naples is the largest city in southern Italy and a popular travel destination. Known as the home of pizza, it sits cradled in the shadow of Europe's most famous volcano, Mount Vesuvius, which destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD. With a sunny climate and the Bay of Naples - one of the world's best views - on its doorstep, it's no wonder that the city also contains some great beaches. Due to strict construction laws, Naples has also been able to avoid the seaside condo clustering that is so common in popular seaside locations. The historic centre of Naples has earned itself a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Naples is one of those places that visitors tend to love or loathe. The city is packed and noisy. Like the rest of southern Italy, it is much poorer than the north, and the poverty is evident. The local Mafia, the Camorra, monopolise garbage collection here (and much else, including the agricultural markets), and as a result the city has a continuing garbage crisis that has to be seen to be believed. Crossing the road is a dangerous sport. To some, to quote the punning title of a recent Italian best-seller, it is Gomorrah.
And yet, and yet... Naples is like a concentrated Italy. The food and drink are fantastic. The climate is benign. It's much cheaper than the north. Regardless of their occupations, the people are all thespians - everything is usually wonderful or terrible - and they are also fatalistic, and believe in living life by the day. The city has a long history - Naples was centuries old when the Romans arrived - and much of it is on show. It has the best-preserved ancient ruins in Europe, in Pompeii and Herculaneum, one of the best museums in Italy, a great gallery, a Bourbon palace and an opera house.
Neighbourhoods
Sights and Activities
Near Naples
- Pompeii is a Roman city that was buried in ash by an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Pompeii is one of the greatest archeological finds ever, and boasts a complete Roman Amphitheater plus two regular theaters. The city gives an unusual glimpse into the everyday lives of Romans an the erie poses of the citizens last moments before they were buried to death.
- Herculaneum was the port town of Pompeii and was buried by mud in the same eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Because it was buried in 12 meters (40 ft) of mud, the city was better preserved then Pompeii. At the entrances to the docks archeologists found over 50 skeletons, with valuable jewelry, trying to fight there way onto the boats.
Events and Festivals
Weather
Getting There
By Plane
Naples International Airport (NAP) Is the main airport for the Naples area and has 2 terminals. Terminal 1 is the main terminal for travellers and is operated by a British Airport Company. Almost all major cities in Italy is served while many major European cities also have direct service from NAP. It is very easy to get to and from the airport:
- Bus: Buy a ticket for 1 Euro at the magazine kiosk inside the airport. Go outside airport and find the bus stop for the 3S bus. Take the 3S bus into Naples' centre.
- Airport bus: Take the tourist airport bus outside the airport.
- Taxi: Taxis are dangerous to take, especially at night. If you want to take a taxi, ask the taxi driver what it will cost before you get in.
By Train
The main station is Piazza Garibaldi Station. Piazza Garibaldi is not a place to linger, especially if you are carrying bags.
By Car
By Bus
By Boat
Getting Around
By Car
Don't even think about driving any vehicle smaller than a tank in Naples. This is not a joke. Naples is famous even in Italy for its crazy driving. Not a single vehicle in the city is undented. One way streets aren't one way; lights are ignored; pavements are widely used to drive on, especially by mopeds. Unless you have been trained for it since childhood, there's no point in trying.
By Public Transport
You can buy Unico Campania tickets for public transport in the city and its regions. Tickets are sold by journey, by day or by longer periods. These are sold at some stations, tobacconists etc. The shortest ticket costs a euro and allows you to travel for up to an hour.
Buses are not bad if you can find one and get on one; they are not very frequent. They are the best way to get to Capodimonte. The central bus station is outside Piazza Garibaldi station.
Naples is hilly. The best way to get to and from the district of Vomero is by funicular railway. It's worth the journey for the views alone.
There are currently two underground lines. They are not very useful if you are based in the centre. More are being built.
The best way to get to the ancient sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Oplontis is by railway, the Circumvesuviana: http://www.vesuviana.it/. There is more than one line but trains to Sorrento always go the right way. Get off at Pompei Scavi for Pompeii, Ercolano for Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata for Oplontis.
By Foot
Since vehicles, and mopeds in particular, use pavements to drive on, you need to have your wits about you. You also take your life into your hands whenever you cross a road. The key to this is to approach it as if you were driving: signal your intentions and act predictably. Whatever you do, don't stop.
That said, the historical centre of Naples really has to be seen on foot.
By Bike
See comments on driving, above, and then multiply the idiocy factor by 100.
Eat
Naples is a gastronomic delight. It is extremely hard to get anything but a good meal, wherever you go, from the meanest café to the poshest restaurant. Neapolitan cooking tends towards the simple: when the ingredients you have to play with are of celestial quality, there's little point in doing much to them. The tomatoes around Naples may be the best in the world, so spaghetti al pomodoro doesn't need anything else. Good mozzarella is made nearby (although it may be full of dioxins, as a result of one of the region's many garbage scandals); so the simplest Neapolitan pizza is just tomato and mozzarella.
Naples is the home of pizza, and don't let a Roman or an American tell you otherwise. Neapolitans are serious about it, and its quality is regulated. To get a 'DOC' (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) label, a pizza must be absolutely fresh, must be made from directly-sourced products, made from a certain kind of dough, must be cooked in a wood-fired oven at a very high temperature, etc. These are worth travelling a long way to experience. While pizzas come in all varieties, there are only two real classics: Marinara and Margherita.
Drink
Coffee
The Neapolitans are serious about their coffee, and this may be why the coffee in Naples has a claim to be the best in Italy. While anyone can stuff some ground coffee into a coffee machine and make an espresso, only an artist decides how finely to grind the coffee beans according to the atmospheric conditions and the time of day. But that's what a decent Neapolitan barista will do.
A tip: order a cappuccino with a croissant (cornetto) for breakfast, but make it your last of the day. After that, drink espresso, or, if you must have milk, an espresso macchiato (with a blob of foam on the top). And drink it quickly. To a Neapolitan, and indeed to an Italian, drinking cappuccino all day is a tad barbaric.
Limoncello
The lemon liqueur known as limoncello is associated with Campania, the region in which Naples lies. Much of it is made down the coast in Sorrento, or in the Bay of Naples on Capri. It is not a complicated drink, and is made with sugar, alcohol and lemon zest. But it is (dangerously) lovely, and that is presumably because the lemons in Campania, and in Sicily for that matter, are plump and relatively sweet.
There are variants on the limoncello theme, but they are less common. Fragolino is a strawberry liqueur. Rucolino is made from rocket (rucola) and is not wholly to this reviewer's taste. One convenient place to pick up all these liqueurs is Limonè, next door to Napoli Sotterranea, just off Piazza San Gaetano and via Tribunali, in the heart of Spaccanapoli. They make the liqueurs themselves.
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