Napoli or Naples, whose name in Greek is Neapolis (meaning "new city") is Italy's second largest metropolitan area. Having been conquered in the past by the Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Spaniards, Austrians, Bourbons and the revolutionary French, Naples has become a hodgepodge of cultures, the influences of which are apparent in the many churches and palaces in the city that have survived to modern times. The multicultural appeal can also be seen in the many other wonders of the ancient city.
Pizza Napoletana. Forget New York pizza. Naples is the traditional home of the pizza. Authentic Neapolitan pizzas are made with indigenous ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes, which are grown in the volcanic plains of the Vesuvius volcano, and Mozarella di Bufala Campana, which is made from the milk of water buffalos raised in the Campana and Lazio regions. There are two recognized varieties of the Pizza Napoletana: the Pizza Marinara, which has tomato, garlic, basil, oregano and extra virgin olive oil as toppings, and the Pizza Margherita, named after Queen Margherita of Italy. True pizzas, or as they say in Naples, la vera pizza, is also only cooked in wood-burning ovens.
Canterbury Ristorante. This well-appointed restaurant is located in Via Asencione, a high-end, fashionable street. Insiders say that its cozy and intimate atmosphere makes one feel like one is an Italian grandmother's dining room. It serves classic and authentic Neapolitan cuisine, including fresh seafood from the Mediterranean. Its specialties include linguini with shrimp, veal with lemon and mixed seafood. Add to this the staff which makes you feel like an Italian king all the time, plus their custard and gelato desserts which are nothing short of heavenly.
Castel Nuovo. "The New Castle," also known as the Maschio Angioino, is the main symbol of Naples' rich architectural and historical past. The ancient fortress, built upon the order of Charles I of Anjou in the 13th century, also features the beautiful triumphal arch entrance designed by Francesco Laurana in 1442 to celebrate the rise of the Aragonese Dynasty. And don't worry, even though it looks it, there are no dragons here. But you can play the princess and the knight if you want to!
Pietrarsa Railway Museum. Have you always dreamed of seeing a beautiful, gleaming steam engine like Hogwarts Express? In Naples, your dream can come true. Sure you'll never get to ride the train like Harry Potter did, but your experience at the Pietrarsa Railway Museum at the San Giorgio a Cremano will nevertheless be remarkable. The museum's collection includes original engines as well as scale models depicting the history of trains in Italy. It even has the Bayard, which was the first locomotive in Italy that started operations from Naples to Portici in 1838.
Campi Flegrei. Beneath Naples is an underground geothermal zone called the Campi Flegrei "the fiery fields." Fed by the famous volcano, Vesuvius, the extensive cave and underground system was also partly formed by mining and quarrying activities over several millennia, from the ancient Greeks who built elaborate aqueducts, to World War II soldiers, who built caverns for use as air raid shelters. You can actually tour part of Campi Flegrei and there is even a museum located in the area that runs beneath Piazza Cavour which contains elaborate replicas of Greek hypogea, as well as many ancient artifacts discovered in the last 50 years.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. The Naples National Archeological Museum is the place to be if you're the history lovin' type. The museum contains an extensive collection of Roman artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum (the tragic Vesuvian cities), Greek and Egyptian relics, as well as works from the Renaissance period.
Cathedral of Naples. The beautiful and grand main church of the city, the Cathedral of Naples, is dedicated to San Gennaro, the city's patron saint. The church keeps a vial of the Saint's blood that they bring out twice a year. Based on a rather grisly legend, if the saint's blood fails to liquefy, something bad will happen to Naples. Just hope they don't bring it out when you do make your visit lest it remains coagulated (yick!).
History, art, architecture, music, and gastronomy -- you name it, Naples has it. Make sure to reserve several days for you to discover many of them!
