NAPLES (Italian Napoli, Greek Νεάπολις, Latin Neapolis, German Neapel), the capital of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the largest and most populous city in Italy, disputes with Constantinople the claim of occupying the most beautiful site in Europe. It is situated on the northern shore of the ancient Crater or Sinus Cumamus, now called from it the Bay of Naples, in 40° 52' N. Lat., and 14° 15' 45" E. Long., as taken from the lighthouse on the mole.

No other spot in the world combines within the same compass so much natural beauty with so many objects of interest to the antiquary, the historian, and the geologist, as the Bay of Naples. Its circuit from the Capo di Miseno, on the N.W., to the Punta della Campanella, on the S.E., is about 35 miles, and is more than 32 miles if the island of Ischia, at the N.W., and the island of Capri, at the S. entrance, be included. At its opening between these two islands it is 14 miles broad; and from the opening to its head at Portici it is 15 miles deep. It affords good anchorage, with nearly 7 fathoms water, and is well shel- tered, except from winds which blow from any point between S.E. and S.W. There is a perceptible tide of nearly 9 inches.

On the N.E. shore of the bay, E. of Naples, is an extensive flat, forming part of the great plain of ancient Campania Felix, and watered by the small stream Sebeto and by the Sarno, which formerly flowed by Pompeii. From amidst this flat, between the sea and the range of the Apennines, rises Vesuvius, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, at the W. base of which, on the sea-shore, are the town-like villages of San Giovanni Teduccio, Portici, Resina, Torre del Greco, Torre dell' Annunziata, &c., and the classic sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii. At the S.E. extremity of the plain, 3 miles beyond the outlet of the Sarno, a great offshoot of the Apennines, branching from their main ridge near Cava, and projecting more than 12 miles due W. into a peninsular form, divides the Bay of Naples from the Bay of Salerno (Stans Pastanum), and ends in the bold promontory of the Punta della Campanella (the Promontorium Minerve of the ancients), which is divided by a strait of 4 miles from the island of Capri. On the N. slope of this peninsular offshoot, where the plain ends and the coast abruptly bends to the W., stands the town of Castellammare, near the site of Stabiae, at the foot of Mount Santangelo, which rises suddenly from the sea to a height of 4722 feet. On the same N. slope, but further W., and nearly opposite to Naples across the bay, are Vico, Meta, Sorrento, Massa, and many other villages.

The N.W. shore of the bay, to the W. of Naples, is more broken and irregular. The promontory of Posillipo, which projects due S., divides this part of the bay into two smaller bays—the eastern, in which is Naples; and the western, or Bay of Baiae, which is sheltered from all winds. Beyond Posillipo is the small island of Nisida (Nesis); and at a short distance inland are the extinct craters of Solfatara and Astroni, and the Lake of Agnano. Further W., on a tongue of land, stands Pozzuoli (the ancient Puteoli); and beyond it, round the Bay of Baiae, are Monte Nuovo, a hill thrown up in a single night in September 1538; the classic site of Baiae; the Lucrine Lake; Lake Avernus; the Lake of Fusaro, or Achernas Palus; the Elysian Fields; and the port and promontory of Misenum. Still farther to the S.W. stand the islands of Procida (Prochyta), and Ischia (Pithecus or Inarime), which divide the Bay of Naples from the extensive Bay of Gaeta.

Some of the local antiquaries, especially the learned Mazzocchi and Martorelli, on the evidence of etymological derivations, ascribe a Phoenician origin to Naples. All ancient writers, however, agree in representing it as a Greek settlement, though its foundation is obscurely and differently narrated. It seems that it was originally founded by a colony from the neighbouring Greek town of Cumae; who gave it the name of Parthenope, from a legendary connection of the locality with the siren Parthenope, whose tomb was still shown at the time of Strabo. A number of Chalcideic and Athenian colonists seem to have afterwards joined the original settlers, and to have built for themselves separate dwellings, which they called Neapolis, or the new city, in contradistinction to the old settlement, which in consequence was styled Paleopolis, or the old city. All modern attempts to define the respective extent and situation of Paleopolis and Neapolis have utterly failed; but Livy's testimony leaves no doubt that they were close to each other, and identical in language and government.

In the year 328 B.C. the Paleopolitans having provoked the hostility of Rome by their incursions upon her Campanian allies, the consul Publius Philo marched against them, and having taken his position between the old and the new city, laid regular siege to Paleopolis. By the aid of a strong Samnite garrison which they received, the Paleopolitans were long able to withstand the attacks of the consul; but at length the city was betrayed into the hands of the Romans by two of her citizens. Neapolis possibly surrendered to the consul without any resistance, as it was received on favourable terms, had its liberties secured by a treaty, and obtained the chief authority, which previously seems to have been enjoyed by the older city. From that time Paleopolis totally disappeared from history, and Neapolis became as an allied city—federata civitas—a dependency of Rome, to whose alliance it remained constantly faithful, even under most trying circumstances. In 280 B.C. Pyrrhus unsuccessfully attacked its walls; and in the second Punic war Hannibal was by their strength deterred from attempting to make himself master of the town. During the civil wars of Marius and Sylla, a body of partizans of the latter having entered it by treachery, 82 B.C., made a general massacre of the inhabitants; but Neapolis soon recovered the blow, as it was again a flourishing city in the time of Cicero. It became a municipium after the passing of the Lex Julia; under the Empire it is noticed as a colonia, but the time when it first obtained that rank is uncertain—possibly under Claudius.

Though a municipal town, Neapolis retained long its Greek culture and institutions; and even at the time of Strabo had gymnasia and quinquennial games, and was divided into phratrie, after the Greek fashion. When the Romans became masters of the world, many of their upper classes, both before the close of the republic, and under the empire, from a love of Greek manners and literature, or from indolent and effeminate habits, resorted to Neapolis, either for education and the cultivation of gymnastic exercises, or for the enjoyment of music and of a soft and luxurious climate. Hence we find Neapolis variously styled—by Horace as "otiosa Neapolis," by Martial as "docta Parthenope," by Ovid as "in otia natam Parthenopen." It was the favourite residence of many of the emperors. Nero made his first appearance on the stage in one of its theatres, Titus assumed the office of its Archon, and Hadrian became its demarch. It was chiefly in Neapolis that Virgil composed his Georgics; and after his death his remains were transferred and buried on the Hill of Pausilypus, the modern Posillipo, in its neighbourhood. It was also the favourite residence of the poets Statius and Silius Italicus, the former of whom was by birth a Neapolitan.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Neapolis suffered severely during the Gothic wars. Having espoused the Gothic cause in the year 536, it was taken, after a protracted siege, by Belisarius, who, having turned aside an aqueduct, marched by surprise into the city through its channel, and put many of the inhabitants to the sword. In 542 Totila besieged it and compelled it to surrender; but being soon after recovered by Nares, it remained long a dependency of the Exarchate of Ravenna, under the immediate government of a duke, appointed by the Byzantine emperors. The Longobard invasion of Italy, and their subsequent conquests in Southern Italy, greatly narrowed the limits of the Neapolitan duchy. In the beginning of the eighth century, at the time of the Iconoclastic controversy, the Emperor Leo Isauricus having forced compliance to his edict against the worshipping of images, the Neapolitans, encouraged by Pope Gregory III., threw off their allegiance to the Eastern emperors, and established a republican form of government under a duke of their own appointment. Under this régime Neapolis retained her independence for nearly 400 years, though constantly struggling against the powerful Longobard Dukes of Benevento, who twice unsuccessfully besieged it. In 1027, however, Pandolfo IV., a Longobard Prince of Capua, succeeded in making himself master of it; but was expelled in 1030 by Duke Sergio, chiefly through the aid of a few Norman adventurers. In reward for their services, and as a security for their constant support, Sergio gave these Normans some land be- between Naples and Capua, on which they built the town of Aversa. Many other Normans soon poured south under the guidance of the sons of Tancred of Hauteville; and having eventually conquered the whole of South Italy and the island of Sicily from the Longobards, the Saracens, and the Greeks, Roger, a son of the great Count of Sicily, attacked Neapolis in 1130, and after a long siege, having compelled it to surrender, founded the present kingdom of Sicily and Naples. The history of Naples became ever since identified with the history of the kingdom, and will be given in this work under the head, Sicilies, Teco.

Of ancient Neapolis there are few vestiges extant; all its buildings having gradually been changed and modernized. Two arches of an ancient theatre, in the street Anticaglia; two columns and other fragments of the temple of Castor and Pollux, preserved in the façade of the church of S. Paolo, a few arches of the Julian aqueduct, constructed by Augustus, which are called Ponti Rossi; and the extensive catacombs on the flanks of the hill of Capodimonte, are almost the only remains of its classic times.

The modern town is built at the base and on the slope of a range of volcanic hills; and, rising from the shore like an amphitheatre, is most advantageously seen from the water. A transverse ridge, branching from the steep hill crowned by the castle of St Elmo, and descending south to the shore, where it forms the promontory of Pizzofalcone, divides the town into two natural crescents; of which the one to the east includes within its circuit the largest and oldest part of the city—the ports, the arsenal, and the principal churches, palaces, and public establishments, and is traversed from north to south by a street two miles long, the lower part of which is called Toledo. The western crescent, known as the Chiaia, is a long and narrow strip between the sea and the hill of Vomero, and is the fashionable quarter of the town, where are the principal hotels, and where foreigners chiefly reside. The Riviera di Chiaia, a broad street, a mile and a-half long, bordered on the north by fine houses, and on the south by the public gardens, called Villa Reale, and, by the sea, runs along this crescent from east to west, and ends in the quarters of Mergellina and Piedigrotta, at the foot of the hill of Posillipo. The ridge between these two crescents, or the Pizzofalcone, is chiefly the residence of the Neapolitan aristocracy. The eastern and western crescents are connected by a broad street or quay, which runs along the shore at the base of Pizzofalcone from the royal palace to the Villa Reale. The length of the town along the shore is 4 miles, and its breadth, from the Capodimonte to the Castel dell'Ovo, is 2½ miles.

The streets are all well paved with lava or volcanic basalt, but, with the exception of the Toledo, the Riviera di Chiaia, the Largo delle Pigne, and the Molo, have no side footpaths. They were first lighted at night in 1806 with oil lamps, which in 1840 were superseded by gas in the principal streets. Many of the streets, especially in the old part of the town, are irregular and narrow, and, from the height of the houses, have a gloomy aspect. They are tolerably clean, filth being carried into the sea by a well-arranged system of sewers. The houses are more remarkable for their size than for their taste or elegance. They are mostly five or six storeys high, are covered with plaster made of a kind of pozzolana, which hardens by exposure to the atmosphere, and have large balconies and flat roofs, which are frequently ornamented with flowers, shrubs, and small trees, planted in boxes filled with earth.

The city is defended by four castles—the castle of St Elmo, built on a steep hill commanding both crescents by King Robert the Wise, in 1343; the Castel dell'Ovo, so called from its oval shape, erected in 1154 by William I., on a small island which Pliny calls Megaris, and which is now joined to the shore at the foot of Pizzofalcone by a causeway on arches 800 feet long; the Castel Nuovo, built near the harbour in 1283, from the designs of Giovanni Pisano, by Charles I. of Anjou, whose residence it was for some time; it is very picturesque, and contains, between two of its old round towers, the triumphal arch erected in 1470 by Alfonso of Aragon—the Castel del Carmine, founded near the east end of the town in 1484 by Ferdinand I. of Aragon. There are two ports—the Porto Grande and the Porto Militare. The former was begun in 1802 by Charles II. of Anjou, and completed in 1740 by Charles III. by the carrying out of an arm to the N.E. In its deepest parts it has from three to four fathoms water, and is protected from all winds; but a S.W. gale makes its entrance difficult. At its extremity there is a lighthouse, reduced to its present form in 1843. West of this port is the Porto Militare, begun in 1826, and finished by the present king. It is intended exclusively for Neapolitan ships of war, and has a depth of about five fathoms.

Naples has more than 300 churches, most of which are more remarkable for the richness of their internal decorations than for real architectural beauty. The most important of them is the cathedral or Duomo, which stands on the site of two temples, dedicated to Neptune and Apollo. The present building was begun in 1272 from the designs of Masuccio I., and dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption, but was not completed till 1316. It contains several granite columns, taken from the original temples on the site of which it stands; but is an incongruous mixture of different styles of architecture. This is mainly owing to the numerous restorations of the building, caused by its repeatedly suffering from earthquakes. The interior consists of a nave and two aisles, separated by pilasters, to which are affixed columns of Egyptian granite, Cipollino and Africano, taken from the ancient temples of Neptune and Apollo. The baptismal font, on the left of the principal entrance, is an ancient vase of Egyptian basalt, adorned with Bacchanalian emblems in relief. Under the high altar is a subterranean chapel, supported by Ionic columns, and containing the tomb of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples; near which is a kneeling statue of Cardinal Carafa, attributed to Michael Angelo. Within the cathedral there are many chapels, the most remarkable of which is the Cappella del Tesoro, built in consequence of a vow made by the citizens during the plague of 1527, and dedicated to San Gennaro. It was begun in 1508, and completed after twenty-nine years. The entrance to it is through a magnificent bronze door. The interior is in the form of a Greek cross, and has seven altars, with pictures by Domenichino and Spagnoletto, and forty-two columns of brocatello, with niches containing nineteen bronze colossal statues of saints. In a silver tabernacle behind the high altar are preserved the two phials containing the blood of San Gennaro, supposed to have been collected by a lady during his martyrdom. The ceremony of the liquefaction of this blood takes place twice a year, in May and in September. If it liquefy quickly, the joy exhibited by the lower classes is great; but if there be any delay beyond the expected time, the tears, prayers, and cries are even greater, as the non-performance of the miracle is supposed to announce some dreadful impending calamity. Attached to the cathedral is the extensive palace of the Archbishop of Naples, who is always a cardinal. The other more important churches, both for architecture and for the monuments and paintings they contain, are—Santa Chiara, San Domenico Maggiore, San Filippo Neri, San Francesco di Paola, opposite the royal palace, the Gesù Nuovo, San Giovanni a Carbonara, the Incoronata, San Lorenzo, Santa Maria del Carmine, Santa Maria la Nova, Santa Maria della Pietà de' Sangri, San Martino, Monteverde, and San Severino.

The royal palace, begun in 1600 by the viceroy Count de Lemos, from the designs of Domenico Fontana, partly destroyed by fire in 1837, and since repaired and greatly enlarged by the present king, is an enormous building, with a front 448 feet long and 95 feet high, exhibiting the Doric, Ionic, and Composite orders in its three storeys. It stands on the N.E. side of a large square, which takes its name from it, is connected with the theatre of San Carlo, the arsenal, and the Castel Nuovo, and commands a most lovely view of the Bay, Vesuvius, and the Apennines. The reception apartments contain a fine collection of pictures by the best Italian masters. In the chapel attached to it there is an altar of lapis lazuli, agate, and many precious marbles. Adjoining the private apartments of the king there is his private library, which is very large, and contains a most valuable collection of prints and original drawings.

The private palaces most remarkable, either for their architecture or for the objects of art which they contain, are—the general post-office, formerly Palazzo Gravina; the palaces Berio, Cavalcante, Maddaloni, Forquet, formerly Stigliano, and Angri, in the street of Toledo; the Mari-gliano and Santangelo, formerly Carafa, in the street St Biagio de' Librai—the latter of which contains the largest private numismatic collection in Italy; the Cellammare, the Davalos, the Bisignano, the Fondi, and many others.

Hospitals and charitable institutions for relieving distress are very numerous, and generally well endowed. The most remarkable are—the Casa 'Santa degl' Incorabili, founded in 1521 by a lady, and enriched in later times by numerous benefactors. Its vast revenue is administered by a board appointed by the king. It is open to persons of both sexes and of every rank, and sometimes contains about 2000 in-patients, besides those that are sent to its convalescent branches in the suburbs of the city,—namely, the Ospedale de' Pellegrini, for the sick and wounded of all classes; and the Albergo de' Poveri, a magnificent building, one-third of a mile long, begun in 1751 by Charles III., as an asylum for orphans and for children whose parents cannot afford to give them an education. With several small institutions, which are its dependencies, it contains nearly 5000 inmates of both sexes, of whom some are taught the elementary branches of education, and music and drawing; whilst others are brought up to trades. Many of the boys brought up in it are sent into the army.

Naples abounds in theatres. The Teatro Reale di San Carlo is the largest and most splendid opera-house in Europe. It was erected by order of Charles III., by the architect Carasale, and first opened to the public in 1737. Having been accidentally burnt down in 1816, it rose from its ashes in seven months, under the direction of the architect Nicolini. It has six rows of boxes, 32 in each row, a pit capable of holding more than a thousand spectators, and a very spacious stage. Adjoining it are the concert and ball-rooms of the Accademia Reale, the most select and aristocratic club in Italy, to which foreigners obtain admission through their minister. The Teatro Reale del Fondo is another opera-house, smaller than San Carlo, but very elegant. The Teatro Nuovo and Della Fenice are also smaller opera-houses, chiefly for the opera buffa. The Teatro de' Fiorentini is devoted to the Italian drama, and is very popular. The Teatro di San Carlino, though very small, is much frequented by all classes, and the performances are always in the Neapolitan dialect.

Scientific and literary institutions are also very numerous—a university, a royal society, a botanic garden, an observatory, a Chinese college, a college of music, &c., &c. The university, which was founded by the Emperor Frederic II., in the thirteenth century, is under the direction of a president, assisted by a rector and a secretary-general, and has fifty-four different professorships. Admission to the lectures is free. A library, and cabinets of the various branches of natural history, are attached to it. The Chinese college was founded in 1732 by the celebrated Father Ripa for the education of young Chinese, who are afterwards sent back to China as missionaries. The Royal Society meets once a year, and is divided into three branches,—the Accademia delle Scienze, of thirty members; the Accademia Ercolanese di Archeologia, of twenty members; the Accademia di Belle Arti, of ten members. Each branch has a triennial president, a perpetual secretary, and meets twice a month. The observatory, which is situated on the hill of Capodimonte, and commands a magnificent view, was finished in 1820 on the plan of the celebrated Father Piazzi. The College of Music, which is of European celebrity, is under royal direction, and supplies gratuitous instruction to 100 pupils.

But of all public institutions at Naples the Museo Borbonico, called also the Studii, is by far the most important and interesting. The building was begun in 1586 for cavalry barracks, but was remodelled in 1615, and adapted for the university. It was enlarged and reduced to its present form in 1790, and converted into a royal museum, which, besides the Farnese collection inherited by the Bourbons of Naples, has been since so far enriched by the objects found in Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabiae, Puteoli, Capua, Nola, Nuceria, Pastum, &c., that it may now be considered as the finest in Europe, and quite unique with respect to Grecian and Roman antiquities. It is divided into seventeen collections, which are arranged as follows:

On the ground floor,—1. Ancient frescoes, found chiefly at Herculaneum and Pompeii. There are more than 1600 objects, and there is a daily increase from the progress of the excavations. Among them are large historical pictures, wonderfully well executed, and admirable with respect both to accuracy of outline and beauty of composition. 2. Mosaics and mural inscriptions. 3. Egyptian antiquities. 4. Ancient sculptures, a large and most interesting collection; the "Wounded Gladiator," "Ganymede and the Eagle," the "Farnese Minerva," a sitting statue of Agrippina, the "Flora Farnese," the "Aristides," and the "Psyche," being some of its numerous gems. 5. Inscriptions. Here are placed the "Ercole Farnese," and the celebrated group of the "Toro Farnese," described by Pliny as one of the most remarkable monuments of antiquity. It was the joint work of the Rhodian sculptors Apollonius and Tauriscus, who cut it from a single block of marble; and it was brought from Rhodes to Rome, where it was found much injured in the Baths of Caracalla. It represents Zethus and Amphinion tying Dirce by the hair of her head to the horns of a bull, in revenge for her seducing the affection of their father Lycus, King of Thebes, from their mother Antiope, who interposes in favour of her rival. It was brought to Naples in 1786, and placed in the Villa Reale, whence it was removed to its present place. 6. Gallery of bronzes, the most extensive collection of the kind in the world. A "Drunken Faun," "Mercury in Repose," the "Sleeping Faun," and the "Dancing Faun," are generally considered the finest bronze statues in the world.

On the staircase,—7. A collection of more than 4000 specimens of ancient glass, showing the skill the Romans had attained in this manufacture. 8. A collection of upwards of 5000 articles of pottery. 9. Cinquecento objects. 10. A reserved cabinet, admission to which is difficult. It contains several Veneres, among which is the "Venus Callipyge," the rival of the "Venus de Medici." It is attributed to Praxiteles, and was found among the ruins of the Golden House of Nero.

Upstairs,—11. A collection of 1750 papyri, most of them discovered in the year 1752 in a suburban villa at Herculaneum. The scrolls of papyri are so precisely like charcoal that the workmen destroyed those that had at first been met with; but on a room being opened, in which the scrolls were ranged in presses round the walls, this remarkable arrangement excited curiosity, and led to the discovery of... Napoleon, Greek and Latin words on these supposed pieces of charcoal. Seven inkstands, with a stylus in its case, were found in the same apartment. After several unsuccessful attempts at unrolling these papyri, Padre Piaggi at length invented an ingenious machine for separating and unrolling them, which, though slow and tedious, is still in use as the best that has been suggested. Those hitherto unrolled are 500 in number. Two volumes of them were published, the first in 1793; and the second in 1809; a third volume has long been preparing for the press. No known work has yet been discovered; and, so far as the examination has advanced, the collection seems to consist of treatises on the Epicurean philosophy, on music, and on rhetoric. It is conjectured, that of the MSS. still unrolled twenty-four are in Latin and the remainder in Greek. 12. Cabinet of gems and cameos. 13. A collection of about 40,000 medals and coins, chiefly of Magna Graecia and Sicily. 14. Seven rooms of small bronzes, which bring before us the manners, habits, and every-day life of the inhabitants of Pompeii. 15. A collection of upwards of 3000 Greek and Etruscan vases, comprising the finest specimens existing. 16. An extensive gallery of paintings, containing some of the finest pictures of the best Italian masters. 17. The public library, called the Biblioteca Borbonica. It contains 4000 MSS., and 200,000 printed books, of which 6000 are works printed in the fifteenth century. Among the MSS. there are many of great rarity and importance. We shall only mention the celebrated Uffizio Farnese, written by Montechi, and illustrated by Giulio Clovio, which is considered the gem of illuminated works.

As there is not a museum in any country which in all respects can be compared with this, and as it forms the chief object of curiosity in the city, we have thought it advisable to give a faint idea of its contents. Access may always be had to it from nine in the morning to two in the afternoon, on all but festival and gala days.

The other public libraries in Naples are the Brancacciana, with more than 70,000 printed books, and about 7000 manuscripts; the Biblioteca dell' Università, with 28,000 printed volumes; and the Biblioteca de Girolomini, with 18,000 printed books, and 60 manuscripts. There are besides many large private libraries.

Naples is abundantly supplied with vegetables, fruit, and all kinds of provisions from the fertile fields in the vicinity. The average prices of the chief articles of sustenance are,—bread and flour, 2d. per lb.; beef 5d., mutton 3d., pork 2d., cheese 6d., butter 1s. 4d., &c. The fishing in the neighbouring water gives occupation to a large portion of the male population, and supplies abundance of food. Macaroni, vermicelli, and other varieties of paste prepared from the wheat brought from Apulia, which is distinguished by its hardness, form a very common kind of sustenance with the Neapolitan people. A notice of the imports and exports of Naples, in which city most of the foreign trade of the continental part of the kingdom is carried on, will be found under SICILIES, Tiro.

The climate of Naples is, upon the whole, salubrious and mild; but in February and March is subject to cold and sharp winds, rendered more trying to weak lungs by the Napoleonic heat of an always powerful sun. It is well suited for invalids labouring under general debility and deranged health, or nervous dyspepsia; but it is questionable whether it is suited as a winter residence for consumptive patients. For the latter class of invalids the local physicians recommend those parts of the city which are removed from the sea, and have a less irritating and more constant atmosphere. The city is well supplied with water, but not all of equally good quality; the water especially with which the quarter of Chiaia is supplied, having often at first a tendency to produce dysentery in strangers, who would do well to see that they get the Acqua del Leone, a pure spring in the Mergellina. There are two mineral springs of great local celebrity,—the Acqua Sulphurea, containing sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid gas, and the Acqua Ferrata, a chalybeate spring, largely impregnated with carbonic acid and iron. They rise on the sea-shore at the foot of Pizzofalcone, at a short distance from each other.

The population of Naples has of late years been steadily increasing, notwithstanding two severe visitations of cholera. In 1830 it was 358,550; on the 1st January 1851 it was 416,475. There were in the latter year 3651 marriages; 14,991 births, of whom 7606 were males, and 7385 females; 1977 foundlings; and 124 illegitimate children. In the same year there had been 15,015 deaths, a number above the average mortality, which, on a calculation of ten years, gives an excess of nearly 1100 births per annum. On the 1st January 1857 the population had increased to 419,850. These numbers include a garrison of about 20,000 men, but do not include strangers, of whom there is always a considerable number at Naples, especially in the winter months.

At Capodimonte, which is a suburb on the N. of the city, there is a magnificent palace, begun by Charles III., and finished by the present king. It is surrounded by a large park, and contains a fine gallery of modern paintings, chiefly by Neapolitan artists. Another large royal palace is at Portici, 4 miles S.E. of Naples. At the W. extremity of the city, where the Riviera di Chiaia terminates, is the Grotta di Pozzuoli, a tunnel 2244 feet long, 21 feet wide, and varying from 69 to 25 feet in height. It was excavated in classic times through the hill of Posillipo, in the old volcanic tufa; and in the fifteenth century enlarged by Alfonso I. of Aragon. It opens a direct communication between Naples and Pozzuoli.

Numerous and most interesting excursions can be made in the environs of the city. Pozzuoli, the Lake of Agnano, and the Grotta del Cane, Lake Avernus, the Lucrine Lake, Baia, the ruins of Cumae, Misenum, the islands of Procida, Ischia, and Capri, the remains of the vast amphitheatre of Capua, the splendid royal palace of Caserta, Beneventum, Vesuvius, Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabiae, Castellammare, Sorrento, Amalfi, Salerno, Pastum, &c., are all within a short distance of Naples, and contribute to its attractions as a winter, or even summer residence for strangers. Caserta, Capua, and Castellammare are easily reached by railway. Two railways are to connect Brindisi and Rome.