Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber's Note: Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. NAPLES [Illustration: BAY OF NAPLES FROM THE VOMERO] NAPLES PAST AND PRESENT BY ARTHUR H. NORWAY AUTHOR OF "HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS IN DEVON AND CORNWALL" "PARSON PETER," ETC. WITH TWENTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY MAURICE GRIEFFENHAGEN SECOND EDITION METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON _First Published_ _May 1901_ _Second Edition_ _June 1905_ TO MY FRIENDS BARON AND BARONESS MARIO NOLLI OF NAPLES, AND OF ARI, IN THE ABRUZZI I DEDICATE THIS BOOK IN TOKEN THAT THOSE WHO ARE DIVIDED BY BOTH SEA AND LAND MAY YET BE UNITED IN THEIR LOVE FOR ITALY PREFATORY NOTE I have designed this book not as a guide, but as supplementary to a guide. The best of guide-books--even that of Murray or of Gsell-Fels--leaves a whole world of thought and knowledge untouched, being indeed of necessity so full of detail that broad, general views can scarcely be obtained from it. In this work detail has been sacrificed without hesitation. I have omitted reference to a few well-known places, usually because I could add nothing to the information given in the handbooks, but in one or two cases because the considerations which they raised lay too far from the thread of my discourse. I have thrown together in the form of an appendix such hints and suggestions as seemed likely to assist anyone who desires wider information than I have given. A. H. N. EALING, 1901 CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE APPROACH TO NAPLES BY THE SEA 1 CHAPTER II THE ANCIENT MARVELS OF THE PHLEGRÆAN FIELDS 21 CHAPTER III THE BEAUTIES AND TRADITIONS OF THE POSILIPO, WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON VIRGIL, THE ENCHANTER 49 CHAPTER IV THE RIVIERA DI CHIAIA, AND SOME STRANGE THINGS WHICH OCCURRED THERE 68 CHAPTER V THE ENCHANTED CASTLE OF THE EGG, AND THE SUCCESSION OF THE KINGS WHO HELD IT 85 CHAPTER VI THE BARBARITIES OF FERDINAND OF ARAGON, WITH CERTAIN OTHER SUBJECTS WHICH PRESENT THEMSELVES IN STROLLING ROUND THE CITY 101 CHAPTER VII CHIEFLY ABOUT CHURCHES--WITH SOME SAINTS, BUT MORE SINNERS 121