Naples is raw, high-octane energy, a place of soul-stirring art and panoramas, spontaneous conversations and unexpected, inimitable elegance.
Art & Architecture
Naples' wealth of cultural assets is extraordinary. You'll find two royal palaces, three castles, and ancient ruins that include some of Christianity's oldest frescoes. The city's Museo Archeologico Nazionale claims the world's finest collection of Pompeiian frescoes and mosaics, while its Cappella Sansevero holds Italy's most extraordinary marble sculpture. You'll find Caravaggio masterpieces in the Pio Monte della Misericordia, Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano and Museo di Capodimonte, the latter palace home to countless masterpieces. Of course, we could also mention all those frescoed baroque cupolas, but that would just be boasting.
History & Legend
Naples' millennia-old backstory could bust a bookshelf. Settled by the Greeks and conquered by the Romans, it's a nail-biting tale where myth and fact entwine into one bewitching whole. Did Queen Joan II really throw her lovers to a peckish crocodile in the Castel Nuovo? Do the skulls inside the Cimitero delle Fontanelle have esoteric powers? And just how did alchemist prince Raimondo di Sangro create those inexplicably perfect arterial systems inside his Cappella Sansevero? Curious tales and unsolved mysteries seep out of every Neapolitan stone, casting a strange, hypnotic spell.
Glorious Food
Blessed with rich volcanic soils, a bountiful sea, and countless generations of culinary know-how, the Naples region is one of Italy's epicurean heavyweights. It's here that you'll find the country's best pizza, pasta and espresso, its most appetising street markets, not to mention some of its most celebrated dishes. From garlicky spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams) to sultry ragù (meat and tomato sauce) and silky parmigiana di melanzane (eggplant parmigiana), the food on these streets is all about intensity and pleasure. After all, life is too short for diets, so follow the locals' lead and succumb to your gluttonous whims.
A football attraction
One of the most popular spectator sports in Napoli is football. SSC Napoli team in the most important in the city and is where the iconic Diego Armando Maradona started his career in Europe.
The history that unites Maradona with Napoli begins in the summer of 1984 and from then until today it has become a story of passion and unconditional idyll. With the Argentine star, the Italian team, which until then only had two Cup titles in its windows, touched the sky and achieved unsuspected heights.
In 1987, he won his first league and everyone remembers it as an authentic feat because the 'double' (League and Cup) was achieved, a milestone that had previously only been crowned by northern Torino, Juventus and Inter, when the The Neapolitan team's goal was basically to avoid relegation.
