Naples Travel Guide: Pizza, History & Southern Italy's Loudest City

Naples (Napoli) has a reputation that precedes it — chaotic, noisy, occasionally rough around the edges — and much of that reputation is accurate. It also has world-class pizza, one of the most dramatic settings of any European city (built in the shadow of an active volcano, facing a bay of extraordinary beauty), and more ancient Greek and Roman history than almost anywhere else in Italy. It is less polished than Rome or Florence, and for many visitors, that is precisely the appeal.

The historic centre

Spaccanapoli is the dead-straight street that cuts through the city’s core along the line of the ancient Greek city of Neapolis. Walking it takes you through the dense, layered urban fabric that UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site in 1995. The Duomo (Cathedral of Naples) contains the Chapel of San Gennaro, where the city’s patron saint’s dried blood is said to liquefy three times a year — an event that draws enormous crowds. Piazza del Gesù Nuovo and the churches clustered around it are architecturally impressive even by Italian standards.

Archaeology

The Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples is one of the great archaeology museums in the world. It holds the bulk of the finds from Pompeii and Herculaneum — mosaics, sculptures, frescoes, and the famous “Secret Room” of erotic art. If you’re visiting Pompeii (a 30-minute train ride south), the museum is the essential companion.

Food

Naples invented pizza. L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, founded in 1870 and serving only Margherita and Marinara, is the most famous. Sorbillo on Via dei Tribunali is the other essential. Queue at both. Away from pizza: sfogliatella (shell-shaped pastry with ricotta or semolina filling), pizza fritta (deep-fried pizza), cuoppo (cone of fried seafood and vegetables), and pastiera (ricotta tart at Easter). Street food in Naples is eaten standing up, from bakeries and rosticcerias, typically before noon.

Safety

The Quartieri Spagnoli (Spanish Quarter) and some eastern periphery areas have a reputation for petty crime. In practice, the historic centre is safe for tourists who take standard precautions — don’t wave expensive cameras around, watch your pockets on the metro, avoid looking lost on quieter streets at night. The city is not dangerous in the way the reputation suggests.

Day trips

Pompeii and Herculaneum are the obvious excursions (Circumvesuviana train from Piazza Garibaldi). The Amalfi Coast is reachable by ferry from the port. Caserta’s Royal Palace is 40 minutes north by train.