Napoli

Napoli (locally called Napule)¹ is a city of 962 thousand² within its own province-level officially defined metropolitan area of 3.115 million³ located on a bay on the Tyrrhenian coast of peninsular Italia⁴ in the Campania Region. The city rises from sea level to 450 meters⁵ and beyond it is the volcano Vesuvio⁶ and the volcanic region of Campi Flegrei.⁷ Offshore are three islands including Capri and Ischia. South of the city is a peninsula full of cliff-hugging resorts. The informally defined metropolitan area extends beyond the administratively defined one, having a population of 3.918 million.⁸ The city rose to great importance under Spanish Hapsburg rule (early 16th century to early 18th century) and has continued to be regionally significant since.

UNESCO recognizes the long history of the city's center by conferring World Heritage status. They mention the Greek era (some wall remains); the Roman era (theatre, cemeteries and catacombs); the Castel Nuovo; and the Santa Chiara and San Lorenzo Maggiore churches.⁹ Beyond the city limits at Caserta (population of 79 thousand^{2, 10}) is an 18th century royal palace, another World Heritage Site.¹¹ The palace has 34 staircases and 1200 rooms, and the grounds include the Great Fountain with a waterfall of 150 meters.⁹ Another World Heritage Site, this one within the province-level Metropolitan City, consists of the imperial Roman ruins at Pompei (population of 25 thousand¹²), Ercolano (55 thousand^{2, 13}) and Torre Annunziata (43 thousand ¹⁴). All three were buried by hot volcanic ash or mud in 79 CE and are partially excavated. Pompei and Ercolano feature commercial and residential buildings, and the Pompei also preserves public buildings and graffiti; Torre Annunziata is known for its wall paintings.⁹

The tallest building is Telecom Italia (423 feet, 1994).¹⁵.

The Napoli airport is one of the nation's busiest.¹⁶

Historical maps

Port of Sorrento, province-level Metropolitan City of Napoli, Campania Region, Italia

Footnotes

1. Naples in English. It was called Neapolis in Latin.
2. 2011 figure from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Italy, accessed January 6, 2018.
3. 2015 metropolitan figure from the side bar of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples, accessed January 6, 2018.
4. Italy in English.
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples, accessed January 6, 2018.
6. Vesuvius in English.
7. Phlegraean Fields in English.
8. 2012 calculation from world-gazetteer.com, accessed February 6, 2013.
9. UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010).
10. Caserta is in its own province.
11. The site includes some silk works from the same period that are not in Caserta.
12. 2016 figure from the side bar of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompei, accessed February 16, 2017. The city is locally called Pumpeje and is called by its old name of Pompeii in English.
13. Usually called by its old name of Herculaneum in English.
14. 2015 figure from the side bar of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_Annunziata, accessed February 16, 2017.
15. Emporis.com, accessed January 6, 2018.
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Italy, accessed February 16, 2017. My criterion for inclusion: above 3 million total passengers.
17. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of the World's Largest Cities." It was the eighth largest city in the world in 1600 CE and the seventh in 1800. It was the largest city in what is now Italia in those years and in 1700 and 1900.