The Metropolitan City of Naples covers less than a tenth of Campania yet holds an outright majority of the region's population: of Italy's fifteen metropolitan cities it is the smallest in area and the most densely populated. It replaced the province of Naples in 2015, itself created in 1806, and gathers 92 municipalities into just over a thousand square kilometres — the city and its hinterland, the towns under Vesuvius, the Sorrento peninsula and the islands of the bay.
The problem is not finding something to see, it is choosing. Pompeii and Herculaneum are day trips from the city; Capri and Anacapri repay the crossing with the Blue Grotto and the Faraglioni, while Ischia and Procida are the same idea with fewer people. In Naples itself the National Archaeological Museum, the Certosa di San Martino and the straight cut of Spaccanapoli are worth several days.
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Our editors' ranking: the area's most important places, drawn from the individual town guides. See the national rankings →
1 🏺 Archaeological sites Parco Archeologico di Pompei 📍 Pompei Fiorelli's plaster casts, the Forum and the Villa of the Mysteries in the town Vesuvius sealed. 
2 🏖️ Beaches & sea Blue Grotto 📍 Anacapri In 1826 five men went into the cursed cave; what came out of it was the Blue Grotto. 
3 🏖️ Beaches & sea Faraglioni and Gardens of Augustus 📍 Capri Three limestone stacks, a blue lizard found nowhere else, and Krupp's cliff terraces on Capri. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Hand-stretched dough, tomato, mozzarella and basil, baked in under a minute in a wood-fired oven: Neapolitan pizza is an art recognised by Unesco.
Read more →Sliced tomato, mozzarella and basil, the three colours of the flag: caprese takes its name from Capri, but no document fixes its date of birth.
Read more →🏖️ Seaside 9 🏛️ UNESCO heritage 9 🏝️ Islands 4 🏘️ Villages 3 🍷 Food & wine 3 ♨️ Spa towns 1
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📅 Every year, on 22 October
On 22 October Torre Annunziata celebrates its patron Our Lady of the Snow, in memory of the 1822 vow that halted the lava of Vesuvius; the devotion dates back to 1354, when fishermen found the image in their nets.
📅 Every year, on 25 October
On 25 October Camposano celebrates its patron Saint Gavinus the Martyr, whose choice has no documented historical reason; many faithful say they have received favours through his intercession.
📅 Every year, on 30 October
Scisciano celebrates Saints Germanus and Martin, patrons at the hamlet level, on 30 October, in the church dedicated to them.
📅 Every year, on 9 November
Arzano celebrates Saints Agrippinus and Justina on 9 November; the former is honoured by the 1753 parish church, flanked by its 17th-century bell tower, while the latter gives her name to an 1858 chapel.
