Naples is raw, high-octane energy, a place of soul-stirring art and panoramas, spontaneous conversations and unexpected, inimitable elegance.
A source of inspiration for creatives throughout history from Oscar Wilde and Jean-Paul Sartre to Ernest Hemingway and, more recently, Elena Ferrante. But the city is more than a muse for writers. Artists, photographers and musicians all visit the metropolis in search of a certain magic. This is the city where Mozart and Goethe came to wind down and Warhol created Pop Art versions of Vesuvius; where a shiny Zaha Hadid creation sits alongside a Banksy artwork.
This artistic ethos lends itself to the city’s growing reputation as a modern fashion hub. Meanwhile a love of crafts is intricately threaded into the history of Naples, with workshops studded across its districts, from glove-makers and umbrella creators to ceramicists producing ornate porcelain. Among Art Nouveau bandstands and the public gardens of Villa Comunale in waterfront Chiaia, shoe salons, suit-sewing tailors and artisanal boutiques further etch fashion into the fabric of Neapolitan culture. Off the coast, islands dotted around the bay offer even more Italian authenticity. There are the green hills of Capri, and Ischia, home to some of Italy’s best beaches. But our pick has to be Procida, an eclectic isle that has been named the Italian Capital of Culture for 2022. Despite being the smallest island in the Gulf of Naples – its jagged perimeter stretches for just nine miles – Procida has provided inspiration for plenty of other key cultural figures, from Anthony Minghella for The Talented Mr Ripley to Lamartine’s Graziella.
Where to stay in Naples
Superotium, Rione Sanita
Naples is ‘muse and stage’ to the contemporary art scene, that lifelong friends Nicola Cancio and Vincenzo Falcone connect their B&B guests to. They host a permanent artist in residence and in-house shows by names such as Simona da Pozzo and Blasepheme. Two years ago, they transformed this tiled Bourbon apartment opposite the Archeological Museum into a high-minded B&B and modernist haven with Pompeiian mosaic drapes, Hockney-swimming-pool blues, giant light bulbs (for big ideas) and intelligentsia-worthy bistro chairs, some purloined from their parents’ houses.
Where to eat out in Naples
Altro Coco Loco
‘There is no love sincerer than the love of food’ is the George Bernard Shaw quote outside of the smart Altro Coco Loco. That love is deeper still with empty stomach, making the hungry persist in their search for Diego Nuzzo’s lauded seafood restaurant up a hard-to-find alley near Piazza Dei Martiri in Chiaia. Under a ceiling hanging with baskets and botanicals, plates of bay-fresh ‘crudo’, carpaccio and sashimi are served like the delicate works of origami followed by jade bowls of lobster linguini as big as carp ponds. Low lighting and velvet banquettes seem to up the aphrodisiacal properties of zinc-laden shellfish.
Where to drink in Naples
L’Antiquario
L’Antiquario, in a former antique shop in Chiaia, might not seem very Neapolitan: a Hemingway-era speakeasy filled with jazzy drum rolls that make even the botanicals on William Morris wallpaper do the ‘Mess Around’. But – cue hi-hat – it was recently named the best cocktail bar in Italy; consolidating Naples as Italy’s new capital of cool. Owner Alex Frezza, from the Neapolitan island of Prochida – all moustache, manners and mixologists white coat – serves up three shades of Negroni in cut crystal glasses.(+39 081 1981 2354). Vomero drinking den Archivio Storico, on the other hand, is a direct homage to Bourbon-era Naples: the drips of candle wax suggest a 300-year-long lock in. Some of the cocktails hail back to the 1700s, with antiques spices used in the likes of the Bourbon-based Giulebbe è Zuccaro.
