Discover Naples
Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit calderacaused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure.
The Sorrento Coast is a jagged promontory that shores up the southern end of the Bay of Naples. This peninsula of hilly terrain ends abruptly at a cliff that plunges sheerly down to the Mediterranean sea. The entire coastline around Sorrento was a Greek colony during the period of Magna Grecia, the legendary site of Homer's sirens, before being conquered by the Romans who enjoyed the area as a summer playground.
From the Sorrento Coast, views sweep along the bay to Naples, Mount Vesuvius and across the water to the island of Capri. Sunset is especially stunning from the point of Massa Lubrense, Faro, or one of the coves below the cliffs on the promontory's edge. On the Sorrento coast you'll find tucked-away bays, deep gorges, sandy sunbathing spots and hilltop hamlets.
"Tammurriata" is a rhythmic-melodic musical expression of the Campania region, characterized by a specific form of music, song and dance. "Tammurriata" takes its name from the "tammorra" drum, made with a circular wooden frame to which is attached a goat skin and some metal discs (cymbals). The origin of the music and the dance is still uncertain, although a few paintings in Pompeii show musicians playing an instrument quite similar to the tammorra or the smaller "tamburello".
The Neapolitan popular genre of "Sceneggiata" is an important genre of modern folk theatre worldwide, dramatising common canon themes of thwarted love stories, comedies, tearjerker stories, commonly about honest people becoming camorra outlaws due to unfortunate events. The Sceneggiata became very popular amongst the neapolitan people, and then became one of the best known genres of Italian cinema because of actors and singers like Mario Merola and Nino D'Angelo. Many writers and playwrights such as Raffaele Viviani wrote comedies and dramas for this genre. Actors and comedians like Eduardo Scarpetta and then his sons Eduardo De Filippo, Peppino De Filippo and Titina De Filippo, contributed towards making the neapolitan theatre and its comedies and tragedy plays well known, such as "Filumena Marturano" and "Napoli Milionaria".
The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe. Numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S.p.A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the south antiterrorism observatory (North Africa, Sahel and Middle East) of the Atlantic Alliance, the Apple Developer Academy and the Lazarus Union Italy.The Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the city's Posillipo district.
Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, serving as the capital of the Duchy of Naples (661–1139) and of the Kingdom of Naples between 1282 and 1816. Thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861.
Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC. A larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages.The city was refounded by Cumaeans as Neápolis in the sixth century BC and became a linchpin of Magna Graecia, playing a key role in the merging of Greek cultureinto Roman society and eventually becoming a cultural centre of the Roman Republic.
Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and Turin. It is the world's 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion
