VIVA NAPOLI!

ONCE THE BAD BOY OF ITALY, WITH AN INTIMIDATING REPUTATION TO MATCH ITS SWAGGER AND ENERGY, NAPLES HAS SMARTENED UP IN RECENT YEARS BUT LOST NONE OF ITS SEDUCTIVE POWER

- CLEMENTINA JACKSON

I ’d like to say that I fell in love with Naples the first time I visited it but, in reality, the opposite is true. I was seven years old, brought to the city by my Italian mother who had called it home for a decade, and whose love for the place, its people and its rich culture was palpable. But despite her best efforts, perfectly curated itinerary and countless stops for pizza, it was my idea of hell. Chaotic, gritty, over-run with mopeds and loud people, it was an assault on my senses – and an experience I found so intense that I avoided the city for the next 20 years.

I passed through Naples many times, but only out of necessity and as quickly as possible, in pursuit of the more glamorous dolce vita found on the nearby Amalfi Coast and the islands of Capri and Ischia. Here, I spent countless summers in comparatively quiet bliss, happily lapping up the local culture – food, ceramics and handsome men, mostly.

Sadly, this is not unusual. Naples’ reputation precedes it, and not in a good way. Having endured centuries of foreign occupation, crime and economic inequality, it has been the subject of endless fearmongering and unkind portrayals in popular culture – and generally circumvented as a result.