Naples (Ital. Napoli; anc. Neajwlis), the largest city of Italy, in the province of the same name, on the N. coast of the bay of Naples, and on the river Sebeto, in the immediate vicinity of Mt. Vesuvius, and not far from the sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii, 118 m. S. E. of Rome, with which it is connected by railway; lat. 40° 51' N., Ion. 14° 15' E.; pop. in 1872, 448,335. The approach to Naples from the sea is famous for its loveliness. The entrance of the bay, from Cape Miceno on the N. W. to Cape Campanella on the S. E., has a width of about 20 m., with a circuit of about 35 m., and an indentation of about 15 m. It is well sheltered, and has good anchorage with seven fathoms of water. At the N. W. entrance are the islands of Ischia and Procida, and at the S. E. the island of Capri, while on the N. shore the city rises in an amphitheatre. On the E. side Mt. Vesuvius is in full view, and numerous towns and villages line the shore. The beauty of the bay has been celebrated by ancient and modern writers, and it is the subject of numerous fine paintings. The city has five principal land entrances, but it is open like London and New York, provided only at the leading avenues with barriers for the purpose of collecting the gabelle or duties on provisions.

It retains only a few fragments of its mediaeval fortifications. Its three castles and modernized gates are surrounded by streets and houses, and are now within the city. It is divided into two amphitheatre-like crescents by a ridge, running N. and S., which forms the hills of Capodi-monte, Sant' Elmo, and Pizzofalcone, terminating on the south in a small island occupied by the castel dell' Ovo, and joined by a causeway to the mainland. The crescent E. of this ridge includes the bulk of the population, the most ancient part of the city, and the principal edifices and public institutions, extending E. to the river Sebeto, and intersected from N. to S. by a long thoroughfare, the lower portion of which forms the strada di Toledo. On a depression between the Capodimonte and Sant' Elmo hills are the suburbs La Sanita and L'ln-frascata, and on the slopes of the former the suburbs Dei Miracoli and Le Vergini. The crescent W. of Sant' Elmo is the modern city, known as the Chiaia or quay, connected with the E. portion by the streets occupying the depression between Sant' Elmo and Pizzofalcone, and by a broad avenue which bears successively the names of Gigante, Santa Lucia, Chiatamone, and Victoria, and which runs along the shore at the foot of Pizzofalcone from the palazzo Reale on the east to the villa Nazionale, formerly villa Reale, on the west.

Another broad street, Riviera di Chiaia, passes along the whole length of the Chiaia; and at its TV. extremity are the suburbs of Piedigrotta and Mergellina. The length of Naples, from the Sebeto bridge on the east to the Mergellina suburb on the west, is 4 m.; the breadth, from the Capodimonte hill on the north to the castel dell' Ovo on the south, is 2½ m. The streets are generally straight, and paved with square blocks of lava; the large thoroughfares are lighted with gas, but only the principal of them have a sidewalk. The majority of the houses are divided into separate tenements. The ground story consists of a series of arched cells, all of the same shape and size, occupied generally by tradesmen or for cafes or restaurants; and on the upper floors lodge numbers of families. The Neapolitans live much out of doors, and it is nothing unusual to see the children washed and dressed, and other domestic scenes of a more or less delicate nature enacted, in the open street. The strada di Toledo, the main artery of Naples, was built in the 16th century by Pedro de Toledo, on what was the western fosse or ditch of mediaeval Naples, which it separates from the modern city.

It runs N. and S. for about 1½ m., from the end of the strada di Santa Lucia, near the royal palace, to the museum, but is hardly 60 ft. in width, while it is bordered by houses five to seven stories high. The strada del Duomo, nearly parallel to the Toledo, was commenced in 1870, leading directly to the sea, and promising to be one of the finest streets in the city. Few of the other streets exceed 30 ft. in width, and many are not above 15 to 20 ft., while some are still narrower. The balconies of most of the houses and the booths and stalls give the streets an appearance of being still more contracted than they really are. The Santa Lucia was rebuilt and enlarged in 1846, and contains one of the markets for fish, especially for shell fish and oysters, which are in great demand. In January, 1868, a land slide destroyed a number of houses at the foot of Pizzofalcone. - Naples possesses hardly any squares. There are a few public places called until recently larghi, but now designated as piazze, some of which are decorated with fountains and statuary. Of these the piazza del Mercato is occupied by a great market twice a week.

It was the scene of the insurrection of Masa-niello. The piazza del Plebiscito, called before 1860 the largo del Palazzo, occupies the site of four monasteries removed in 1810; it contains equestrian statues of Ferdinand IV. (I.) of Bourbon and Charles III., the latter having been originally modelled for a likeness of Napoleon, then altered to Murat, and finally to Charles TIL The piazza del Municipio, formerly the largo del Castello, is the largest in Naples, and contains a celebrated fountain erected by the duke of Medina Celi. The villa Nazionale is the fashionable promenade, and may be said to form part of the Riviera di Chiaia. It is 5,000 ft. long and 200 ft. wide, planted with evergreens, oaks, and acacias. It was laid out in 1780, and enlarged in 1807 and 1834. The early part of it is in the Italian style, and the additions are in the Egyptian, and contain two temples dedicated to Virgil and Tasso, winding paths, grottoes, and a terrace extending into the sea. The sea air proved so injurious to the statuary, that the famous Farnese bull was removed to the museum, and replaced in 1825 by the large granite basin from Paestum which forms the central fountain. Other remarkable statues have also since been taken away, and replaced by mediocre copies of celebrated works of antiquity.

The Molo is a favorite resort of the seafaring classes. The popular minstrels, or cantatori, who formerly frequented it, have removed to the Marinella, a long open beach, once the resort of the lazzaroni. The latter class has lost its ancient characteristic features, being composed mainly of industrious boatmen and fishermen, though they still preserve their fondness for lying on the beach and basking in the sun. - Prominent among the public buildings of Naples are the castles. The castel Nuovo, with its massive towers and fosses, is situated near the port. The triumphal arch, erected in honor of the entry of Alfonso of Aragon into the city in the 15th century, is remarkable for its classical style, and stands between two of the old broad and massive Anjou towers. It is entered by bronze gates, sculptured in compartments representing the victories of Ferdinand I.; they are the work of the monk Guglielmo. Within are the barracks and a magnificent hall, now used as an armory, but formerly for a royal reception room, and for state festivals. A covered gallery connects the fort with the palace. Adjoining the castle and the royal palace are the dockyard and arsenal. Iron-clad and other vessels of the Italian navy are frequently stationed here.

The castel dell' Ovo, in the southernmost part of the city, is of oval form, and defended by bastions and outworks. It was much enlarged by Charles I., and is now chiefly used as a prison. The castel Sant' Elmo, the most commanding point in the city, was built in its present form by Pedro de Toledo, and is said to abound with mines and subterranean passages, which, together with the counterscarp and fosses cut in the solid tufa, and its formidable walls, made it of great strategical importance. It has been dismantled under the new regime, and is used as a military prison. Its ramparts afford a splendid prospect of the city and bay. The castel Capuano was once the residence of the Swabian and occasionally of the Anjou dynasty; it is now the seat of the tribunal of commerce, and of the principal courts of criminal and civil law, and contains a prison on the ground floor, unhappily celebrated under the Bourbons. The castel del Carmine was fortified after the revolt of Masaniello, when it was the stronghold of the insurgents, and is now used as a military prison and barracks. The palazzo del municipio was begun in 1819 and completed in 1825 for the purpose of conducting all the public business in one building.

It contains 6 courts, 846 apartments, and 40 corridors, covering 200,000 sq. ft. of ground. There are many fountains, some of which are highly adorned. The chief aqueduct, which supplies them with water, is the Acqua di Carmignano. The Acqua della Bulla supplies the lower quarters of the city. The supply is, however, limited. Two artesian wells have been sunk, but without success; and an English firm secured a concession for supplying the city with water in 1873. There are two mineral springs in the city of great celebrity. - The number of churches is over 800. The most important is the cathedral, which retains little of its original Gothic character excepting in the towers. It was commenced at the end of the 13th century and completed at the beginning of the 14th; was injured by an earthquake in the middle of the loth, and was rebuilt by Alfonso I.; and ha* since undergone frequent restorations, the last in 1837. Over the great entrance are the tombs of Charles I. of Anjou, Charles Martel, and his wife dementia of Hapsburg. It also contains the tombs of King Andrew, of Pope Innocent IV., and of other noted personages.

Opposite to the entrance of the basilica of Santa Restituta, on the site of a temple of Apollo, and once the place of worship for the Greek ritual, but now part of the cathedral, is the cappella del Tesoro, or chapel of San Gen-naro (St. Januarius), with the two celebrated vials said to contain the blood of that saint, the liquefaction of which gives occasion for the greatest religious festivals of Naples. (See Januarius, Saint.) The "Tomb of San Gen-naro," with the sick waiting to be cured, and several other paintings and frescoes in the chapel, are by Domenichino. The tomb is under the high altar in the richly ornamented subterranean chapel called the "confessional of San Gennaro," near the kneeling statue of Cardinal Carafa, which is said to have been executed by Michel Angelo. The church of Sant' Aniello a Capo Napoli, or Sant' Agnello Mag-giore, in the piazza Sant' Agnello, has a painting of San Carlo by Caracciolo, said to be one of the most masterly imitations of Annibale Car-racci. Beneath the richly decorated church de' Santi Apostoli, said to have been founded by Constantine on the ruins of a temple of Mercury, is a cemetery containing the tomb of the poet Marini. Among the other churches are Santa Chiara, with a Latin inscription over the Gothic tomb of King Robert the Wise, attributed to Petrarch, designed like many other monuments by Masuccio II.; and the church of San Lorenzo, associated with one of the stories of Boccaccio, with Petrarch, who resided for some time in the cloister attached to it, and with Alfonso L, who in the chapter house of this church proclaimed his natural son Ferdinand heir to the throne by the title of duke of Calabria. The convent and church of San Mar-tino is celebrated for the magnificence of the view from it, as well as for the beauty of its architecture.

Santa Maria del Parto, in the Mergellina suburb, called by the common people il diavolo di Mergellina, derives its name from Sannazzaro's poem De Purtu Virginis, and contains that poet's tomb. - Beggars abound in Naples in spite of the law. There are about 00 institutions devoted to charitable purposes. The most celebrated of them is the albergo de" poveri or reclusorio, an immense institution, which with its dependencies accommodates more than 5,000 persons. It is over 1,000 ft. long, but was intended by its founder Charles III. to cover a still larger ground, to serve as an asylum and an educational establishment for all the poor of the kingdom. To some extent it is made to answer this purpose; boys and girls are educated there and brought up to trades, and the boys generally enlist in the army. The greatest among the other hospitals is the santa casa degl incurabili, or hospital for incurable diseases, but open to the sick of all descriptions; it is in high repute as a medical school, and accommodates about 2,000 patients. The hospital dell' Annunziata is chiefly intended for the reception of foundlings.

There are annually about 2,000 foundlings out of 15,000 births, and they are better cared for in Naples than in other parts of Italy. The new hospital di Gesu Maria is the great clinical school attached to the university. The latter in 1873 contained 74 professorships and 1,500 students, and has a library of about 25,000 volumes. The Chinese college, founded by Father Iiipa, a missionary in China, is intended for the training of young Chinese, who, after having completed their education, are employed as missionaries in their native country. The college of music, in which Bellini was educated, enjoys a high reputation, and has had for its directors Zingarelli and Merca-dante. It gives free instruction to 100 pupils, and admits others at a small remuneration. The national school of medicine and surgery is attended by upward of 120 students, contains a pathological museum, and communicates by a subterranean passage with the practical medical school at the hospital for incurables. The public primary schools are still in a very unsatisfactory condition, numbering in 1872 only about 15,000 pupils. - The societel reale comprises academies of science, of archaeology, and of the fine arts, and the two former publish their transactions.

The observatory of Naples, situated on the Capodimonte hill, about 500 ft. above the sea, is an elegant building, completed in 1820, after the plans of Piazzi, under whose direction it achieved great celebrity. The botanic garden was completed in 1818, and is remarkable for its collection of trees. The most notable new institution is the zoological garden, established in 1873, with one of the finest aquariums in the world. Naples possesses five public libraries: the Na-zionale, of 200,000 volumes and 4,000 manuscripts; the Brancacciana, of 75,000 volumes; the university library; the Girolomini; and the biblioteca del municipio. The glory of Naples, however, is the museum, situated in a building originally intended for cavalry barracks, afterward remodelled from the designs of Fontana for the use of the university, and for some time the seat of the academy of science. It is still called palazzo degli studii pub-Mici, or simply studii. The name museo reale lorbonico was given to it by Ferdinand IV. (I.), who, after its enlargement in 1790 for the purpose of receiving the royal collection of art, caused all the antiquities and pictures in the royal palaces of Portici and Capodimonte to be brought into it in 1820. After the annexation of Naples to the Italian kingdom it was named museo nazionale.

It contains collections of ancient frescoes, mosaics, and mural inscriptions, Egyptian antiquities, ancient sculptures, inscriptions, bronzes, glasses, pottery, cinque-cento objects, papyri, gems, medals and coins, vases, paintings, and the national library. Among the ancient frescoes are more than 1,600 specimens found at Herculaneum and Pompeii. The collection of ancient sculpture contains the statues of the Roman emperors and a colossal bust of Julius Caesar. The " room of the papyri" includes more than 1,700 rolls of writings from Herculaneum, disfigured by the effects of the fire, of which about 500 have been successfully unrolled. Several volumes of transcriptions from them have been published. The gallery of paintings was rearranged in 1866-'7. It contains 500 works, many of them masterpieces of the old painters; while the Neapolitan school can nowhere be studied so well as here. The best paintings are arranged in four rooms, apart from the main collections of the several schools, with some remarkable engravings, and drawings by the great masters. - The private palaces of Naples are far inferior in architectural beauty to those of Florence and other cities of upper Italy, but almost all of them contain museums of works of art.

The most beautiful private palace is the palazzo Gravina, in the strada di Monte Oliveto, built at the end of the 15th century by Ferdinando Orsini, duke of Gravina, after the design of Gabriele d'Agnolo; it is now the property of the government, and used by the general post office and telegraph offices. The palazzo Pia-nura, near the church of San Paolo, was the residence of the poet Marini. The palazzo Santangelo is remarkable for its fine statuary and collection of coins and medals, illustrative of the numismatic history of the Two Sicilies. The palazzo Monticelli, a fine specimen of the domestic architecture of the 15th century, was long the residence of the mineralogist Monticelli, wmose collection of Vesuvian productions was purchased by the university and the British museum after his death. Naples abounds with fine villas, some of them commanding superb views on the bay. In its immediate environs are the grotta di Pozzuoli or di Posilippo, consisting of a tunnel about 2,250 ft. long and 21½ ft, wide, excavated in the older volcanic tufa, and containing near the top of the entrance the celebrated Roman columbarium known as the tomb of Virgil. The environs abound with many other remarkable sights, interesting to the classical scholar, archaeologist, and naturalist, as well as to the admirers of the beautiful and picturesque in nature, the vicinity of Vesuvius and other volcanic localities presenting scenes of matchless grandeur. - The principal places of amusement are the theatres.

The San Carlo, adjoining the royal palace, was long the largest Italian opera house in the world. It was designed, by order of Charles III., by Medrano, a Sicilian artist, built in the short space of eight months by Angelo Cara-sale, a Neapolitan architect, and opened in 1737. It was burned down in 1816, but rebuilt after seven months without altering the original form. It has six tiers of boxes of 32 each, and the pit accommodates more than 1,000 persons. The teatro del Fondo, in the strada Molo, is under the same management as the San Carlo, and is exclusively devoted to operas and ballets. The oldest theatre in Naples is the teatro de' Fiorentini, now the popular stage of the Italian drama. The opera buffa is represented chiefly in the teatro Nuovo. The teatro Partenope is a popular theatre, in which farce and comedy are performed twice a day in the Neapolitan dialect. The theatre of San Carlino is the home of Pulcinello. The performances take place in the morning and evening in the Neapolitan dialect, and are attended by all classes of the population. - The scholars and savants, artists, jurists, medical men, and the higher middle and professional classes of Naples generally, constitute a very intelligent and refined society; and its men of science and scholars are celebrated in Italy for their devotion to their respective branches of study.

The number of strangers is great at all times, but particularly during the winter, notwithstanding the frequently dangerous effect of the climate upon foreign constitutions, especially upon consumptive patients. - Naples has three ports: the Porto Piccolo, the last remains of the ancient port of Palaeopolis, and now only suited to small craft; the Porto Militare, a new harbor with a depth of water of five fathoms, bounded N. by the Porto Grande and S. by a mole which runs in a S. E. direction into the sea for a distance of 1,200 ft.; and the Porto Grande, the principal port, but with only three or four fathoms in its deepest part, having suffered from the silting of the sand and shingle. Between the Porto Grande and Porto Piccolo is the imma-colatelle, with the offices of a branch of the board of health and the captain of the port. On the other side of the Porto Piccolo is the custom house. New docks are projected. The Mandracchio district, S. E. of the latter port, is inhabited by the dregs of the Neapolitan population. The principal imports of Naples are sugar, coffee, and other colonial produce; coal, salted fish, cotton (the cultivation of which has of late enormously increased in the surrounding region), woollen, silk, and flax goods; iron, tinware, and hardware.

The chief exports are products of the surrounding country, chiefly consisting of staves, coral, olive oil tartar and wine lees, madder, liquorice, hemp, and fruits, and amounting in 1873 to nearly $9,000,000; imports, chiefly colonial products, cotton, woollen, and silk goods, fish, grain, and metals, nearly $25,600,000. The shipping comprised 4,703 inward and 4,724 out-ward vessels, tonnage 1,020,758 and 998,421, There are several great banks, and most of the business men are more or less interested in financial schemes, which are often carried on in a reckless manner. Many banks recently established without adequate capital have resulted in bankruptcies and financial chaos. Merchants are arranged by the chamber of commerce into five different classes, and credit to a certain amount at the custom house for the payment of duties is granted to. them accordingly. The most important manufacture is of macaroni and vermicelli, which constitute the principal food of the people. Next in importance is the production of silk goods, the gros de Naples taking its name from the manufacture of this city.

There are also iron and glass works, type founderies, and manufactories of carpets, broadcloth, chemicals, soaps, perfumery, artificial flowers, corals, porcelain, hats, carriages, gloves, etc. - For municipal purposes the city is divided into 12 districts. There is a garrison of 6,000, and the national guard numbers 14,000. The prisons of Naples have had an infamous reputation, but have been much improved of late years. The most important have already been mentioned. - The principal antiquities of Naples are the catacombs, which are of greater extent than those of Rome. (See Catacombs, vol. iv., p. 95.) The environs abound with celebrated relics of antiquity, but in the city proper there are not many of them, excepting the fragments of the temple of Castor and Pollux, of the Julian aqueduct, now called Ponti Rossi, and a few other remains. The greatest authority on Neapolitan inscriptions is Mommsen's Cor-pus Inscriptionum Neapolitanarum (Leipsic, 1851). - Several of the learned Neapolitan antiquaries claim for Naples a Phoenician origin, but it is generally considered to have been originally a Creek city and colony of Cumae, although the account of its first foundation, under the name of Parthenope, is regarded by many authorities as a mythical tradition.

According to several accounts the city was, after its increase through settlers from various parts of Greece, divided into an old town (Pakeopo-lis) and a new town ( Neapolis). But the identity of the connection between the two names is not yet clearly established. Niebuhr places the situation of Palaeoopolis near the site of the present town of Pozzuoli, and Livy refers to them as close to each other; but long before his time (330 B. C.) Palseopolis is mentioned as having been engaged in hostilities with Rome, and the name seems soon afterward to have disappeared from history, and to have become merged in Neapolis, which early became a faithful ally and dependency of Rome, and noted for the courage of its citizens from their successful resistance to the attack of Pyrrhus in 280 B. 0., while the strength of its fortifications caused Hannibal to leave the place unmolested during the second Punic war. It retained to a far greater extent than other Italian cities its Greek culture and institutions, and many of the higher classes of Romans resorted to Neapolis for their education, on account of the beauty of the climate and the scenery, and of its hot springs.

It recovered quickly from the calamities of the civil war of Marius and Sulla. Under the empire it continued to be a favorite resort of the Roman nobility. Nero made his first public appearance as an actor on the stage of Naples, and the voluptuous character of the city caused it to be called by Ovid in otia natam Parthenopen. The great tunnel under Posilippo was then as now an object of admiration. The chief glory of the city was its association with Virgil, who resided there for a considerable period. Naples was taken by the Goths in A. D. 493, retaken by Belisarius in 536, and reduced and dismantled by Totila in 543. About 570 it was constituted a separate duchy, forming a dependency of the exarchate of Ravenna. After the fall of the exarchate in the 8th century it enjoyed for about 400 years an independent government under dukes of its own election, though often engaged in hostilities with the Lombard dukes of Bene-vento, to whom it was obliged to pay tribute. When the duchy of Benevento was divided into three principalities, the prince of Capua endeavored to gain the supremacy, and succeeded in temporarily seizing Naples (1027); but the Normans, having conquered all the rest of southern Italy and Sicily, reduced Naples after a protracted siege; and the city submitted to Roger I. of Sicily about 1137. On the extinction of the Norman dynasty in 1189, Naples became subject to the house of Swabia. In 1268, under the Anjou dynasty, Naples superseded Palermo as the seat of the government.

In 1442 the last king of the Anjou dynasty was conquered by Alfonso of Aragon. Charles VIII. of France conquered Naples in 1495, but was driven out by Gonsalvo de Cordova. Under the Aragonese and Spanish kings it was ruled by viceroys till the peace of Utrecht (1713), when it was annexed to the possessions of the house of Hapsburg. The popular insurrection under Masaniello took place in 1647. Charles, son of Philip V. of Spain, became master of the city and kingdom in 1734, and founded the Bourbon dynastv. The French took it in 1799 and again in 1806. Joseph Bonaparte was made king of Naples, but was replaced in 1808 by Murat, who was displaced by the Austrians in 1814, when the Bourbons were restored. The city was the scene of a revolutionary conflict on May 15, 1848. It was entered by Garibaldi in September, 1860, and incorporated with the dominions of Victor Emanuel. Naples has been often alarmed by earthquakes, and a severe eruption of Vesuvius in April, 1872, resulted in the loss of some 200 lives, and the city was covered with a shower of ashes.

A railway to the summit of Vesuvius was commenced in 1875.

Naples.

Castel Nuovo.