The city, after a long period of forced industrialization, that ended in the 80’s, bases its economy on the tertiary, on the trade, on the tourism and above all on the activities connected with the maritime transports: the port of Naples in the years 2001-2005, has been only second to the Hong Kong port for numbers of passengers.
Today tourism represents the field of major growth for the city. The tourist flow is essentially directed towards international draw destinations such as Pompei, Capri, Peninsulas of Sorrento and Amalfi, but more and more emerges the quality of the historic-cultural offer, of the handmade tradition, of the town together with a renewed offer of services and receptive structures.
history in brief
Myth and legend wrap the origins of Naples, that, according to some provenances, are set around 1000 B.C.. The legend narrates that the first inhabited nucleus on Mount Echia (where today is situated the Santa Lucia district) was born where the body of the Mermaid Parthenope was found, after committing suicide because of the insult received by the sharp Ulisse, who heard her melody and remained unhurt. This first nucleus was at first destroyed by the city of Cuma, then estabilished again by the same Cuma in a more internal area and was named "Neapolis" that means "new city".
The city, due to its geographic position, the mild weather, the natural capacity of developing maritime trade, grew up and reinforced; in the following centuries Naples resisted to the several attempts of the Sanniti to subdue it, until the year 327 B.C., when it was conquered by the Roman Army. Unique among all the cities of the Roman Empire, Naples maintained Greek as the official language and preserved in its culture the Greek influences for the following centuries, until, after being the protagonist of several significant events, the city became the stage of the Empire’s last act: in 476 A.D., the last emperor of the Western Empire, Romolo Augustolo, was imprisoned in the isle of Megaride, where subsequently arised Castel dell'Ovo.
The city and its surroundings are strewn with the signs of Greek and Roman age, that appear from the surface of the streets and of the walls, hidden in the underground; an extraordinary witness is the route of the old town which reflects perfectly the path of the Greek city.
In the following centuries the city was first conquered by the Ostrogoths (493 A.D.), then by the Byzantines (536 A.D.) until the beginning of the Duchy of Naples, which lasted for four centuries (763-1139) and ended with the arrival of the Normans, who subdued the whole South of Italy, giving birth to the Kingdom of Naples. At that time, Naples was the protagonist of the European history and culture, going through several important happenings and the succeeding of various Royal families. With its greatness, Naples competed in all fields with the most important European capitals and became an obligatory stop of the Grand Tour.
In 1734 the Bourbon dynasty came to the throne and brought the Kingdom to the modern era with its firm hand; Naples was the protagonist of Enlightenment reforms and attempts in the van of developments. Not even with the Napoleonic break of Gioacchino Murat’s kingdom, the developments were interrupted: the first steamboat was conceived and built in Naples, the first railway was inaugurated in Italy, the first public gas lighting diffused in Europe. Also, the Neapolitan Navy was third in Europe and the port of Naples was the primary destination of all Mediterranean trades. The Kingdom of Naples survived until 1860, when it was annexed to the Kingdom of Savoy and the newborn Kingdom of Italy.
The annexation to the Kingdom of Italy gives birth to a controversial era in which the city loses the privileges of "Capital" and hardly adapts to a different role. During the Second World War the city was half destroyed by hundreds of air bombs, but it found its redemption in the “Four days” of fighting (25-28 September 1943) during which the population faced the German occupiers and succeeded (unique among all cities) to force them to retreat and abandon the city.
