Naples

Naples is loud, alive, and sits in front of a volcano. Mount Vesuvius closes off the bay, and the crater can be walked up for a view over the sea and the city below. Pizza was invented here, baked in ninety seconds in a wood oven and eaten standing, folded in four. The lanes of the old centre are narrow and noisy, strung with washing and lit by small street shrines. The eruption of AD 79 froze Pompeii under ash, and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii can be walked street by street, shops and frescoes included. On the water, the Castel dell'Ovo has guarded the harbour mouth for a thousand years. South of the city the coast turns spectacular: the cliff villages of the Amalfi Coast, the pink houses above Positano Beach, the coves of Capri.