Naples
Naples is the regional capital of Campania, Italy. With a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits, it is the largest city in southern Italy and the third-largest city of Italy after Rome and Milan, while its province-level municipality is the third most populous metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 2,958,410 residents. Its metropolitan area, the seventh most populous in the European Union, stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately. Naples also plays a key role in international diplomacy, since it is home to NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
Founded by Greeks in the first millennium BCE, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. In the eighth century BCE, a colony known as Parthenope was established on the. In the sixth century BCE, it was refounded as Neápolis. The city was an important part of Magna Graecia, played a major role in the merging of Greek and Roman society, and has been a significant international cultural centre ever since with particular reference to the development of the arts.
Naples served as the capital of the Duchy of Naples, subsequently as the capital of the Kingdom of Naples, and finally as the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies — until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples is also considered a capital of the Baroque, beginning with the artist Caravaggio's career in the 17th century and the artistic revolution he inspired. It was also an important centre of humanism and Enlightenment. The city has long been a global point of reference for classical music and opera through the Neapolitan School. Between 1925 and 1936, Naples was expanded and upgraded by the Fascist regime. During the later years of World War II, it sustained severe damage from Allied bombing as they invaded the peninsula. The Four Days of Naples was an uprising in Naples, Italy, against Nazi German occupation forces from 27 September to 30 September 1943, immediately prior to the arrival of Allied forces in Naples on 1 October during World War II. The city underwent extensive reconstruction work after the war.
Since the late 20th century, Naples has had significant economic growth, helped by the construction of the Centro direzionale business district and an advanced transportation network, which includes the Alta Velocità high-speed rail link to Rome and Salerno and an expanded subway network and suburban railway service. Naples is the third-largest urban economy in Italy by GDP, after Milan and Rome. The Port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe.
Naples's historic city centre has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A wide range of culturally and historically significant sites are nearby, including the Royal Palace of Caserta and the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Naples is undoubtedly one of the world's cities with the highest density of cultural, artistic, and monumental resources, described by the BBC as "the Italian city with too much history to handle."
The city has long been a global point of reference for classical music and opera through the Neapolitan School, contributing to the development of opera buffa and the modern conservatory system. Naples has also fostered a distinctive theatrical tradition and a renowned musical heritage, including the Neapolitan song, which achieved worldwide popularity. In the visual arts, the city has given rise to original artistic movements such as the and, Caravaggism, the School of Posillipo, the School of Resina and , as well as internationally significant applied arts, including Capodimonte porcelain and the Neapolitan nativity scene.
It is also widely recognised for its distinctive culinary tradition, which includes foods that have become global cultural icons, most notably pizza. In recognition of its cultural significance, the art of Neapolitan pizzaiolo has been inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Naples is home to some of the oldest and most prestigious educational institutions in Europe. It hosts the University of Naples Federico II, founded in 1224 and regarded as the oldest state-funded and secular university in the world, as well as the University of Naples "L'Orientale", the oldest institution in Europe dedicated to Oriental and Sinological studies. The city is also home to the Nunziatella Military School, one of the oldest and most prestigious military academies in the world.
History
Greek birth and Roman acquisition
Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. In the second millennium BC, a first Mycenaean settlement arose not far from the geographical position of the future city of Parthenope.Sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established probably a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC. By the eighth century BC, the settlement was expanded by Cumaeans, as evidenced by the archaeological findings, to include Monte Echia. In the sixth century BC the city was refounded as Neápolis, eventually becoming one of the foremost cities of Magna Graecia.
The city grew rapidly due to the influence of the powerful Greek city-state of Syracuse, and became an ally of the Roman Republic against Carthage. During the Samnite Wars, the city, now a bustling centre of trade, was captured by the Samnites; however, the Romans soon captured the city from them and made it a Roman colony. During the Punic Wars, the strong walls surrounding Neápolis repelled the invading forces of the Carthaginian general Hannibal.
The Romans greatly respected Naples as a paragon of Hellenistic culture. During the Roman era, the people of Naples maintained their Greek language and customs. At the same time, the city was expanded with elegant Roman villas, aqueducts, and public baths. Landmarks such as the Temple of Dioscures were built, and many emperors chose to holiday in the city, including Claudius and Tiberius. Virgil, the author of Rome's national epic, the Aeneid, received part of his education in the city, and later resided in its environs.
It was during this period that Christianity first arrived in Naples. The apostles Peter and Luke visited the city according to the account in chapter 16 of the New Testament Book of Acts. Januarius, who would become Naples's patron saint, was martyred there in the fourth century AD. The last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was exiled to Naples by the Germanic king Odoacer in the fifth century AD.
Duchy of Naples
Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire, Naples was captured by the Ostrogoths, a Germanic people, and incorporated into the Ostrogothic Kingdom. However, Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire recaptured Naples in 536, after entering the city via an aqueduct.In 543, during the Gothic Wars, Totila briefly took the city for the Ostrogoths, but the Byzantines seized control of the area following the Battle of Mons Lactarius on the slopes of Vesuvius. Naples was expected to keep in contact with the Exarchate of Ravenna, which was the centre of Byzantine power on the Italian Peninsula.
After the exarchate fell, a Duchy of Naples was created. Although Naples's Greco-Roman culture endured, it eventually switched allegiance from Constantinople to Rome under Duke Stephen II, putting it under papal suzerainty by 763.
The years between 818 and 832 saw tumultuous relations with the Byzantine Emperor, with numerous local pretenders feuding for possession of the ducal throne. Theoctistus was appointed without imperial approval; his appointment was later revoked and Theodore II took his place. However, the disgruntled general populace chased him from the city and elected Stephen III instead, a man who minted coins with his initials rather than those of the Byzantine Emperor. Naples gained complete independence by the early ninth century. Naples allied with the Muslim Saracens in 836 and asked for their support to repel the siege of Lombard troops coming from the neighbouring Duchy of Benevento. However, during the 850s, Muslim general Muhammad I Abu 'l-Abbas sacked Miseno, but only for Khums purposes, without conquering the territories of Campania.
The duchy was under the direct control of the Lombards for a brief period after the capture by Pandulf IV of the Principality of Capua, a long-term rival of Naples; however, this regime lasted only three years before the Greco-Roman-influenced dukes were reinstated. By the 11th century, Naples had begun to employ Norman mercenaries to battle their rivals; Duke Sergius IV hired Rainulf Drengot to wage war on Capua for him.
By 1137, the Normans had attained great influence in Italy, controlling previously independent principalities and duchies such as Capua, Benevento, Salerno, Amalfi, Sorrento and Gaeta; it was in this year that Naples, the last independent duchy in the southern part of the peninsula, came under Norman control. The last ruling duke of the duchy, Sergius VII, was forced to surrender to Roger II, who had been proclaimed King of Sicily by Antipope Anacletus II seven years earlier. Naples thus joined the Kingdom of Sicily, with Palermo as the capital.
As part of the Kingdom of Sicily
After a period of Norman rule, in 1189, the Kingdom of Sicily was in a succession dispute between Tancred, King of Sicily of an illegitimate birth and the Hohenstaufens, a Germanic royal house, as its Prince Henry had married Princess Constance the last legitimate heir to the Sicilian throne. In 1191 Henry invaded Sicily after being crowned as Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and many cities surrendered. Still, Naples resisted him from May to August under the leadership of Richard, Count of Acerra, Nicholas of Ajello, Aligerno Cottone and Margaritus of Brindisi before the Germans suffered from disease and were forced to retreat. Conrad II, Duke of Bohemia and Philip I, Archbishop of Cologne died of disease during the siege. During his counterattack, Tancred captured Constance, now empress. He had the empress imprisoned at Castel dell'Ovo at Naples before her release on May 1192 under the pressure of Pope Celestine III. In 1194 Henry started his second campaign upon the death of Tancred, but this time Aligerno surrendered without resistance, and finally, Henry conquered Sicily, putting it under the rule of Hohenstaufens.The University of Naples, the first university in Europe dedicated to training secular administrators, was founded by Frederick II, making Naples the intellectual centre of the kingdom. Conflict between the Hohenstaufens and the Papacy led in 1266 to Pope Innocent IV crowning the Angevin duke Charles I King of Sicily: Charles officially moved the capital from Palermo to Naples, where he resided at the Castel Nuovo. Having a great interest in architecture, Charles I imported French architects and workmen and was personally involved in several building projects in the city. Many examples of Gothic architecture sprang up around Naples, including the Naples Cathedral, which remains the city's main church.