Whatever your real interest is in Campania, the chances are that you’ll wind up in NAPLES - capital of the region and, indeed, of the whole Italian south. It’s the kind of city laden with visitors’ preconceptions, and it rarely disappoints: it is filthy, it is very large and overbearing, it is crime-infested, and it is most definitely like nowhere else in Italy - something the inhabitants will be keener than anyone to tell you. In all these things lies the city’s charm. Perhaps the feeling that you’re somewhere unique makes it possible to endure the noise and harassment, perhaps it’s the feeling that in less than three hours you’ve travelled from an ordinary part of Europe to somewhere akin to an Arab bazaar. One thing, though, is certain: a couple of days here and you’re likely to be as staunch a defender of the place as its most devoted inhabitants. Few cities on earth inspire such fierce loyalties. In Naples, all the pride and resentment of the Italian south, all the historical differences between the two wildly disparate halves of Italy, are sharply brought into focus. This is the true heart of the mezzogiorno , a lawless, petulant city that has its own way of doing things. It’s a city of extremes, fiercely Catholic, its streets punctuated by bright neon Madonnas cut into niches, its miraculous cults regulating the lives of the people much as they have always done. Football, too, is a religion here: frenzied celebrations went on for weeks after Napoli, with their hero Maradona to the fore, wrested the Italian championship from the despised north in 1987. Support is not as fanatical as it used to be, though the club is currently enjoying some success again in Italy’s Serie A.

Music, also, has played a key part in the city’s identity: there’s long been a Naples style, bound up with the city’s strange, harsh dialect - and, to some extent, the long-established presence of the US military: American jazz lent a flavour to Neapolitan traditional songs in the Fifties; and the Seventies saw one of Italy’s most concentrated musical movements in the urban blues scene of Pino Daniele and the music around the radical Alfa Romeo factory out at Pomigliano. More recently, a distinctive style of Neapolitan rap emerged from the centri sociali or “social centres” - groups of left-wing urban activists who challenge the establishment. The most famous exponents of this kind of rap are 99 Posse, who joined forces with Bisca to record Guai a Chi ci Tocca ( Trouble for Those who Touch Us ), which documented a brutal police attack on a peaceful student demonstration in Naples in 1994.

Naples is a surprisingly large city, and a sprawling one, with a centre that has many different focuses. The area between Piazza Garibaldi and Via Toledo, roughly corresponding to the old Roman Neapolis (much of which is still unexcavated below the ground), makes up the old part of the city - the centro storico - the main streets still following the path of the old Roman roads. This is much the liveliest, most teeming part of town, an open-air kasbah of hawking, yelling humanity that makes up in energy what it lacks in grace. Buildings rise high on either side of the narrow, crowded streets, cobwebbed with washing; there’s little light, not even much sense of the rest of the city outside - certainly not of the proximity of the sea.But the insularity of the centro storico is deceptive, and in reality there’s another, quite different side to Naples, one that’s much more like the sunwashed Bay of Naples murals you’ve seen in cheap restaurants back home. Via Toledo , the main street of the city, edges the old centre from the Palazzo Reale up to the Museo Nazionale Archeologico and the heights of Capodimonte ; to the left rises the Vómero , with its fancy housing and museums, and the smug neighbourhood of Chiaia , beyond which lies the long green boulevard of Riviera de Chiara , stretching around to the districts of Mergellina and Posillipo : all neighbourhoods that exert quite a different kind of pull - that of an airy waterfront city, with views, seafood eaten al fresco and peace and quiet.

There was a settlement here, Parthenope , as early as the ninth century BC, but it was superseded by a colony formed by the Greek settlers at nearby Cumae, who established an outpost here in 750 BC, giving it the name Neapolis. It prospered during Greek and later Roman times, escaping the disasters that befell the cities around and eventually declaring itself independent in 763 - which it remained for close on 400 years, until the Normans took the city in 1139. The Normans weren’t here for long: like the rest of this region, the city soon came under the rule of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, who stayed rather half-heartedly until 1269, when their last king, Conradin, was beheaded in what’s now Piazza del Mercato, and the Angevins took over the city. With one exception - Robert the Wise, who was a gentle and enlightened ruler and made the city a great centre for the arts - the Angevin kings ruled badly, in the end losing Naples to Alfonso I of Aragon in 1422, thus establishing a Spanish connection for the city for the next 300 years. Following the War of the Spanish Succession, Naples was briefly ceded to the Austrians, before being taken, to general rejoicing, by Charles of Bourbon in 1734. Charles was a cultivated and judicious monarch, but his dissolute son Ferdinand presided over a shambolic period in the city’s history, abandoning it to the republican French. Their “Parthenopean Republic” here was short-lived, and the British reinstalled the Bourbon monarch, carrying out vicious reprisals against the rebels. (The instigator of these reprisals was Admiral Nelson - fresh from his victory at the Battle of the Nile - who was famously having an affair with Lady Hamilton, the wife of the British ambassador to Naples. Under continuing Bourbon rule, or more accurately misrule, the city became one of the most populated in Europe, and one of the most iniquitous, setting a trend which still holds good today. For the rest of Europe, Naples was the requisite final stop on the Grand Tour , a position it enjoyed not so much for its proximity to the major classical sites as for the ready availability of sex. The city was for a long time the prostitution capital of the Continent, and its reputation drew people from far and wide, giving new meaning (in the days when syphilis was rife) to the phrase .More recently, Naples and its surrounding area have been the recipient of much of the money that has poured into the south under the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno scheme, and its industry is spreading, if not exactly booming. But the real power in the area is still in the hands of organized crime or the Camorra : much of the coastline west of the city - to Bagnoli - was built by Camorra money, and, although it’s not at all publicized, little happens that matters here without the nod of the larger families. Not surprisingly, much government money has found its way into their hands too, with the result that there’s been little real improvement in the living standards of the average Neapolitan: a very high percentage remain unemployed, and a disgraceful number still inhabit the typically Neapolitan one-room bassi - slums really, letting in no light and housing many in appallingly overcrowded conditions. In the late 1970s there was a cholera outbreak in part of the city, and until recently it was thought that the same thing could happen again. However, Antonio Bassolino , mayor of the city from 1993 until 2000, did much to promote Naples and its attractions, and the G7 summit, held here in June 1994, provided the impetus for a much-needed clean-up of the city centre. Bassolino was confident that supporting Naples‘ cultural strengths would boost local pride. Scores of neglected churches, museums and palaces were restored and now have extended opening times, particularly in the month of May, in a festival called Maggio Aperto. There’s been a burst of creative activity from local filmmakers, songwriters, artists and playwrights, and saying that you are from Naples gives you instant credibility in Rome, Milan and other northern cities.

Sadly, this surge of civic pride has received a check with the renewal of violent activity by the Camorra, in the person of “La Madrina” - godmother Maria Licciardi. Licciardi concocted an alliance between the Camorra families, maintaining that it would be more profitable for them to work together and pool resources from drug smuggling, prostitution and protection rackets. An argument over a drugs shipment fractured the truce, and the clans turned on each other. Four of Licciardi’s people were murdered on her home ground, the suburb of Secondigliano, and she responded with brutal force: by June 2000, sixty people had lost their lives in a series of tit-for-tat killings. Although the “civilian” population has not been directly affected by these events, they have sorely dented the city’s self-image

For tourist information ( www.ept.napoli.it ), there’s a desk at Capodochino airport (Mon-Fri 9am-7pm; tel 081.780.5761), and another at Stazione Mergellina (Mon-Fri 9am-7pm; tel 081.761.2102), although perhaps the most convenient of Naples‘ tourist offices is the one in Stazione Centrale (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 9am-1.30pm; tel 081.268.779), its opening times are a little unreliable and the queues can be long and slow-moving, but it’s a good place to pick up a free city map and an English-language copy of the monthly Qui Napoli , a useful reference on the city and an indicator of what’s on ; the more youth-orientated Pagine dell’Ozio also appears monthly (L2000/¬1.03). In the centre, you’ll find a tourist office on Piazza Gesù Nuovo (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 9am-3pm; tel 081.551.2701), and another at Piazza dei Martiri 58 (Mon-Fri 8.30am-3.30pm; tel 081.405.311).

The old part of the city is crammed with bars ; the best thing to do is head for one of the lively and glamorous central squares where the local ragazzi hang out - try Piazza Bellini, a focal point for the gay community, or Piazza Gesù Nuovo. Bear in mind though, that things don’t really get going till at least 9pm. For nightclubs you may - due to the licensing laws - have to obtain a tesserino or membership card to gain entry, which will cost upwards of L20,000/10.33. For the best of the clubs head around the bay, ideally with your own transport, to the places situated in the beach areas north or south of the city; the Qui Napoli magazine has club listings.For more highbrow culture there’s the Teatro San Carlo, whose opera season runs from December to May, while the rest of the year is given over to classical concerts and ballet (box office Tues-Sun 10am-1pm & 4.30-6.30pm; tel 081.797.21.11). The Teatro Mercadante on Piazza Municipio (tel 081.551.3396; tickets from L27,000/13.94) is a stunning little eighteenth-century building, featuring the best of touring Italian theatre. Its long avant-garde tradition is upheld by Roberto de Simone, whose shows, such as the recent La Gatta Cerontala , are soaked in Neapolitan atmosphere.

Chez Moi , Parco Margherita 12, near Piazza Amedeo. A great club which has been going strong since the Seventies, with a small dance floor and intimate lounges with waiter service. Frequented by an elegant crowd. Thurs-Sun 10pm-4am.Internet Bar , Piazza Bellini 44, www.internetbarnapoli.it . A central and stylish little bar, where for L10,000/5.16 an hour you can surf the Web. Mon-Sat 11am-2am.

Intra Moenia , Piazza Bellini 70. One of several trendy haunts on Piazza Bellini, where tables spread across the square. A lovely place to sit and read under the wisteria on a sunny day - it styles itself a “literary café”. Substantial snacks and fancy ice creams are served, and there’s a computer for Internet access (L5000/2.58 for 30min). Daily 10am-2am.

Jasay Nightlife , Via Marina. This is a relatively new club located between the centre and the suburbs; it has an alternative focus and is part of a project to regenerate the port area. Oct-April Tues-Sun 9.30pm-4am.

La Mela , Via dei Mille 41. A legendary and long-established club with an exclusive clientele and a resident DJ. Dress up to get past the doorman. Thurs-Sun midnight-4am.

Madison Street , Via Sgambati 30c. A huge upmarket disco with themed events and a gay night on Saturdays. Open till late.

Michelemma Club , Via Campana 12, Pozzuoli (tel 081.526.9743). An out-of-town option that’s definitely worth the trip; centred round a lemon and orange plantation, it features a vibrant dancefloor and a concert hall, as well as a handy pizzeria.

My Way , Via Cappella Vecchia 30c, off Piazza dei Martiri. A funky nightclub with a cave-like dancefloor which plays a range of music, from salsa to house. Oct-April Thurs-Sat 10pm-4am.

Notting Hill Gallery , Piazza Dante 88a. A non-mainstream club geared to Brit pop plus garage and drum ‘n’ bass, with live music on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Oct-May Tues-Sun 10.30pm-5am.

Otto Jazz Club , Piazzetta Cariati 23. A popular jazz club off Corso Vittorio Emanuele which also dips its toes into Neapolitan folk song. Has 200 cocktails on the menu. Daily 10pm-3am.

Velvet Underground , Via Cisterna dell’Olio 11. Plays an eclectic range of music including garage, and features live music by decent local bands. Oct-May 11pm-4am.

Virgilio Club , Via Lucrezio Caro 6, just below the Parco della Rimembranza, Posillipo. A fun and leafy outdoor disco that gets jam-packed on summer nights. June-Sept Sat 11pm-4am.