Naples

Naples (Italian: Napoli [ˈnaːpoli], Neapolitan: Nàpule [ˈnɑːpələ]; Latin: Neapolis; Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις, meaning "new city"), is a historic city in the southern part of the Italian peninsula. It is currently the capital of the Province of Naples and the Campania region. It was previously the capital of its own kingdom, the Kingdom of Naples and then Two Sicilies. It is one of the largest cities in Europe in terms of population with a figure of around 1 million people, but much more in the metropolitan area.

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Naples is the flower of paradise. The last adventure of my life. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Naples and Paris: the two only capitals. ~ Stendhal

Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure. ~ Martin Farquhar Tupper

Naples is the flower of paradise. The last adventure of my life.
- Alexandre Dumas, as quoted in "Naples and Paris, the true capitals" by Marco Cesario, in ANSAmed.info (24 October 2007)

I won't say another word about the beauties of the city and its situation, which have been described and praised often. As they say here, "Vedi Napoli e poi muori! — See Naples and die!" One can't blame the Neapolitan for never wanting to leave his city, nor its poets singing its praises in lofty hyperboles: it would be wonderful even if a few more Vesuviuses were to rise in the neighbourhood.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, journal entry (3 March 1787), published in Italian Journey [1786 - 1788]; as translated by W. H. Auden and Elizabeth Mayer (1962)

A Mediterranean Paris. Such is Naples.
- Gustave Flaubert, as quoted in "Naples and Paris, the true capitals" by Marco Cesario, in ANSAmed.info (24 October 2007)

All things in Naples are arranged with as much civility as possible.
- Norman Lewis, in Naples '44: An Intelligence Officer in the Italian Labyrinth (1978)

The turmoil and the daily come and go made Naples a populated and fibrillating city like Paris.
- Marquis de Sade, as quoted in "Naples and Paris, the true capitals" by Marco Cesario, in ANSAmed.info (24 October 2007)

Naples and Paris: the two only capitals.
- Stendhal, as quoted in "Naples and Paris, the true capitals" by Marco Cesario, in ANSAmed.info (24 October 2007)

Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure,
Crowned by consenting nations peerless queen of gayety:
She laugheth at the wrath of Ocean, she mocketh the fury of Vesuvius,
She spurneth disease, and misery, and famine, that crowd her sunny streets.
- Martin Farquhar Tupper, "Of Death" in Proverbial Philosophy in Complete Poetical Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper (1850), p. 181

O fair, false city, thou gay and gilded harlot!
Wo for thy wanton heart, wo for thy wicked hardness!
Wo unto thee, that the lightsomeness of life, beneath Italian suns,
Should meet the solemnity of death, in a sepulchre so foul and fearful!
- Martin Farquhar Tupper, on pits used as mass graves in 19th century Napoli, in "Of Death" in Proverbial Philosophy in Complete Poetical Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper (1850), p. 181

Another revolution! Naples free and all of Italy in insurrection! How wonderful has been the march of the human mind in these last thirty years … so may it be till the last link of the chains of slavery is broken and the banner of freedom waves over the whole earth!
- Frances Wright, in a letter to William James MacNeven (1820)