Photos of Naples, city below a volcano, Italy

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Naples, city below a volcano

Naples (Napoli) is the third-largest city of Italy, with over a million people, situated on the Bay of Naples. It is the capital of the region of Campania, an important seaport, manufacturing and tourism centre: the bay with its islands like Ischia and Capri, the Amalfi coast, Mt. Vesuvius and the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum are all nearby.

Near the National Museum
 
Piazza Dante, Naples
 
Altar Gesù Nuovo church
 
The vault, Gesù Nuovo
 
Church of Gesù Nuovo
 
In San Domenica Maggiore
 
Narrow side street
 
Street in Spaccanapoli
 
Port' Alba
 
Narrow street
 
Naples from Vesuvius
 
Into the crater
 
Into the crater
 
View to Nola
 
San Paolo Maggiore
 
Corso Umberto I
 
Castel Nuovo
 
Neapolitan boys
 
The Duomo
 
View from Vomero
 
Napoli and Vesuvio
 
Spaccanopoli
 
Cloister garden, Santa Chiara
 
Craft shop
 

About 600 BCE, Greek colonists from Cumae, 23 kilometres to the west, founded a town near present-day Naples. According to legend, they first called it Parthenope but later renamed it Neapolis (New City). The Romans conquered it about 326 BCE; they made the area a favourite place to relax for various Roman emperors, including Augustus and Nero. From the 1100s until 1860, Naples was ruled by multiple foreign invaders, including Arabs, Normans, French, Austrians, and Spanish. In 1734, the city became the capital of an independent country called the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860, and since 1861, the city has been the capital of Campania.

Naples is a city of extreme contrasts, with scenes of great beauty mixed with crowded slums. In the eastern section, church spires rise above old tenement buildings and factories. The Spaccanapoli district, with its crowded, narrow streets, forms the heart of old Naples. The newer western part of the city lies along the Riviera di Chiaia, a broad drive running 5 kilometres along the Bay of Naples. The Vomero, a hilly, densely populated modern section, lies inland. The city boasts beautiful cathedrals and castles dating back to medieval times.