There are many clichés about Naples: dirty, loud, crowded, criminal, vulgar.
Image: Picture Alliance
It’s great to be Neapolitan. But it’s not easy. Also because mass tourism is driving residents out of their neighborhoods.
ÜThere are many clichés about Naples: dirty, loud, crowded, criminal, vulgar. It’s not just the Germans who say that, for whom the south, despite all the fascination, quickly becomes too much. A lot of Italians say that too. The Neapolitans, however, love their city. It is hard to imagine that there is more pronounced local patriotism anywhere. Everywhere huge graffiti show the local heroes: the famous comedian Totò, the footballer Diego Maradona. This spring, when it became apparent that SSC Napoli could win the Italian soccer championship for the first time in a long time, the residents painted house walls and cobblestones blue and white. One wall read, “It’s great to be a Neapolitan.”
It may be great, but it’s not easy. Because the clichés aren’t just clichés and the city actually has a filth and crime problem. She’s full too. Nowhere else in Italy do so many people live in such a small area. You can see that in the statistics, but you can also just walk through the city and fight for space in the narrow streets with honking scooter drivers and passers-by.
