Naples

Naples is the cradle of Campania civilization. With its basin of 914 758 inhabitants, it is third in Italy by population, it is the center of one of the most populous and densely populated metropolitan areas in Europe. Founded by the Cumans in the eighth century BC, it was one of the most important cities of Magna Graecia and played a significant commercial, cultural and religious role towards the surrounding Italic populations.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, in the eighth century the city formed an autonomous duchy independent of the Byzantine Empire; later, from the thirteenth century and for more than five hundred years, it was the capital of the Kingdom of Naples; with the Restoration it became the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under the Bourbons until the unification of Italy. Seat of Frederick II, the oldest university in the world to be born through a state provision, it also hosts the Oriental, the oldest university of sinological and oriental studies on the continent, and the Nunziatella, one of the oldest military academies in the world, elected historical and cultural heritage of the Mediterranean countries by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean. Place of origin of the Neapolitan language, it has played and still has a strong weight in numerous fields of knowledge, culture and the collective imagination.

Protagonist of humanism and enlightenment center on a European level, it has long been a global point of reference for classical music and opera through the Neapolitan musical school, among other things giving rise to the comic opera. A city with an impressive tradition in the field of figurative arts, which has its roots in the classical age, it has given rise to original architectural and pictorial movements, such as the Neapolitan Renaissance and Neapolitan Baroque, Caravaggism, the Posillipo school and liberty Neapolitan, as well as minor arts but of international importance, such as Capodimonte porcelain and the Neapolitan nativity scene.

It is at the origin of a distinctive form of theater, a world-famous song and a peculiar culinary tradition that includes foods that take on the role of global icons, such as Neapolitan pizza, and the art of its pizza makers which has been declared intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO. In 1995 the historic center of Naples was recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site for its monuments, which testify to the succession of cultures of the Mediterranean and Europe. In 1997 the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic apparatus was elected by the same international agency (with the nearby Golden Mile, which also includes the eastern districts of the city) among the world biosphere reserves.

Places of tourist interest

• Piazza Plebiscito
• Royal Palace
• Castel dell’Ovo
• Castel Sant’Elmo
• San Gregorio Armeno
• Capodimonte Museum
• Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory
• Pietrarasa Museum
• Male Angevin
• Posillipo
• Campi Flegrei
• Port'Alba Palace of Portici
• Charterhouse of San Martino
• Camaldoli urban park