Welcome to Naples
Italy’s third largest city is one of the oldest, most artistic and most appetising. The historic centre of Naples is a Unesco World Heritage Site, its archaeological treasures are among the most important in the world, and its tangle of palaces, castles and churches makes Rome positively provincial.
Then there is the food. Blessed with rich volcanic soils, bountiful sea and centuries of culinary know-how, the region of Naples is one of Italy’s greatest epicurean centres, serving the country’s best pizza, pasta and coffee, as well as many of its most famous seafood dishes, street snacks and sweet treats.
Of course, the urban scene in Naples may seem anarchic, ragged and unloved. But look beyond the filth, graffiti and occasional bureaucracy and you will discover a city of frescoes, sculptures and breathtaking views, of unexpected elegance, spontaneous conversation and deep humanity. Welcome to Italy’s most unlikely masterpiece.
In recent years Naples has become a favourite destination for all those Italian and foreign tourists who like to spend their holidays in cities of artistic interest. Unlike cities where art is preserved in museums and daily life takes place in the streets, the hallmark of Naples is folklore: people living and working amidst the artistic beauty of the city.
Tourism has finally become a key factor for the city’s economy.
Fascinating yet contradictory, fascinating yet crumbling and chaotic, Naples is a brilliant winter destination. It enjoys a mild, southern climate and an unrivalled natural setting on a wide azure bay, with the scorching bulk of Vesuvius, the Sorrento Peninsula and Capri on the horizon.
World-class monuments, some of the best food in Italy, a vibrant street life and a thriving contemporary art scene add to its appeal, and in the run-up to Christmas, the city is at its most extroverted.
Still central to every Neapolitan Christmas (along with food, like rococo Christmas cakes) is the centuries-old tradition of the presepe, or Christmas nativity scene, which sees crowds jostling along Spaccanapoli (the straight, arrow-shaped street that bisects the old city center) on their way to the narrow Via San Gregorio Armeno to stock up on small figurines, some with moving parts, for their home nativity scenes.
Italy’s third-largest city is looking better than it has in a long time. The piles of garbage are gone, and traffic has been banished from much of the Lungomare and large swathes of the center. The completion of the subway system is in sight, and the remodeling of the Piazza Garibaldi and Piazza Municipio areas, which has slowed traffic in recent years, is nearly complete.
Private initiatives are also seeing crumbling monuments, manicured gardens, and long-closed landmarks, such as the Cimitero delle Fontanelle and the church of Santa Maria del Purgatorio ad Arco, open up to visitors once again.
Naples has often been called Italy’s most underrated city, but that’s changing. Tourist numbers are on the rise, so get there early.
The Stations of Art.
Many of Naples’s treasures are below street level, not least some of the world’s most impressive metro stations. The first “art station” opened in 2001, but the ambitious idea for a public art project in the underground system dates back to the late 1980s.
The 11 stations to date have featured both emerging local artists and international architects and big names. The most recent openings are Oscar Tusquets Blanca’s 2013 Toledo stop, with its jaw-dropping escalator descent beneath the giant Cratere de Luz mosaic, and Karim Rashid’s 2011 Università station, a joyous riot of youthful bubble-gum colors, psychedelic designs and mirrors. Municipio, is a work in progress: completion was delayed by the discovery of Roman remains (including several ships) on the site.
National Archaeological Museum.
If you only visit one museum in Naples, visit the MANN. The Farnese family’s unrivaled legacy of ancient Greco-Roman art and artifacts forms the core of the collections, which are housed in a vast 17th-century building.
Labeling is almost nonexistent and lighting is poor, but nothing can detract from sculptures like the colossal Farnese Bull, the Iron Hercules, and the pair of mighty murderous tyrants—all Roman copies of early Greek sculptures. Among the collections on the upper floors, the finest are the exquisite mosaics from Pompeii and Herculaneum and the saucy ancient erotica in the Secret Cabinet, plus the bronzes from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, including the five dancers and two lean athletes, poised for flight, are extraordinary.
