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From the 8th to the 5th centuries BC this area became an important part of Magna Graecia when Greek city-states set up trading posts here (see Paestum). In 470 BC Neapolis (New City) was founded, which became modern Naples.

Around 326 BC the area was absorbed into the Roman Empire and by the 1st century AD Naples was a renowned centre of learning. But in August AD 79 all that changed when Mount Vesuvius suddenly erupted after centuries of dormancy. Within a few hours, entire cities were gone, covered by ash or boiling volcanic mud (see Pompeii).

With the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, the area was overrun by tribes from the north, particularly the Goths. In 553 the Byzantine emperor Justinian’s chief general Belisarius conquered the zone.

In 1140 the Norman king Roger II made his triumphant entry into Naples – the Normans had already gained possession of Sicily and most of southern Italy. The once proudly autonomous city now had to take a back seat to Palermo – although wellbeing continued to rise, thanks to the Normans’ stability and efficiency.

In the mid-13th century, the French Anjou dynasty, having taken over the Kingdom of Sicily, shifted its capital to Naples, to the great joy of the residents. Many new buildings were constructed, including, in 1279, the Castel Nuovo.

With the removal of the capital to the mainland, Sicilian resentment came to a head on Easter Monday 1282. A riot, known as the Sicilian Vespers, left 2,000 Frenchmen dead and initiated a 20-year war. Finally, Sicily was lost and the Angevin kings focused their entire attention on Naples, leading to a period of ever greater prosperity.

At the beginning of the 17th century Naples was Europe’s largest city, with a population of some 300,000, but in 1656 a plague struck. After six months, three-quarters of the population were buried in mass graves.

In 1734 the Spanish king arrived in Naples. He was heir to the Farnese clan, who were Italian by birth, and transformed his new home town into a city of the Enlightenment.

On 21 October 1860 Naples voted to join a united Italy, under the rulership of an Italian king, Vittorio Emanuele II – Garibaldi had entered the city two months previously to gather up support.

On 27–30 September 1943 Neapolitans showed their true character. After the occupying Nazis threatened to deport all the city’s young males, four days of rioting by the populace kept the Germans so busy that the Allies were able to get a toehold and rout the enemy.