DK Travel : Naples & the Amalfi Coast

From one perspective, this area is an anomaly, at once one of the earth’s most beautiful and yet most accursed places. It has been the choice of the great and wealthy as their playground, while also being the scene of some of the greatest natural disasters and the grittiest human misery. Perhaps these irreconcilable twists of fate are at the root of the Neapolitans’ famously optimistic cynicism. The city of Naples itself is a vibrant urban setting, almost non-European in its intensity, while the beauty of the surrounding coast has been known to make grown men weep.

Poggioreale

Piles of everything here, especially shoes.
Politeama

This large, modern space offers international music, dance and drama. Recent international performers have included German cutting-edge dancer Pina Bausch and US composer Philip Glass.
Pompeii

Certainly no archaeological find is more important than that of ancient Pompeii, where a culture was captured forever by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Not only can we see the streets, buildings, furnishings, art, tools, jewellery, and even the food and drink of the people who lived here, but plaster casts reveal the people themselves. From the ruling class down to slaves, we can see their last moments during those terrible few hours that doomed the city.
Pompeii & Herculaneum

Frozen in time by a volcanic eruption, these sites provide a view of the world as it was 2,000 years ago (see Pompeii).
Pompeii & Herculaneum

The world’s most famous archaeological site comprises an entire culture caught in a moment of life when Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago (see Pompeii).
Pope Innocent II

When the Normans were making progress towards Naples in 1137 the city turned to the pope for help, but the Normans took him prisoner.
Posillipo

Clothing, shoes and bags.
Posillipo & Beyond

The nearest beaches to the centre of Naples that are of any appeal can be found at Posillipo, although they’re shingle, not sand, and the water is far from immaculate. Further away, at the ends of the Cumana and Circumflegrea railways, there are more attractive sandy beaches, although, again, they are not especially pristine.
Positano

Again, at this fashionable, busy resort, payment is necessary for a sunbed and umbrella. For something a little more independent take the path to the west, around the cliff, to the beach at Fornillo – it’s smaller and rockier but more relaxed.
Positano

Known for decades as a playground for the rich and famous this is an astonishingly vertical town in shades of pink and other faded pastels. Only one street snakes its way down and up – the rest are stairs.