Sorrento by the sea, Naples, Italy Postcard

 

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Naples (Italian: Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule) is the capital city of the Campania region and the Province of Naples. Its metropolitan area is the second most populated in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. It is located halfway between the volcano, Vesuvius and a separate volcanic area, the Campi Flegrei, both of which form part of the Campanian volcanic arc. The city itself has a population of around 1 million, the inhabitants are known as Neapolitans, napoletani or poetically partenopei. It is rich in historical, artistic and cultural traditions and gastronomy. The Neapolitan language is the geographically most diffuse Italian language, similar variations of the Neapolitan dialect ('o napulitano) are spoken throughout most of Southern Italy. Between 1266 and 1861, Naples was the capital town of the Kingdom of Naples (later of the Two Sicilies), usually simply indicated as "the Kingdom", other Italian states having different denominations. This history, coupled with its size, has given Naples the unofficial status of being the Capital of the South (in Italy). In the modern day, the city is served by Naples International Airport at Capodichino, a civil airport hosted by a military one, once outside the town, now surrounded by built up area.******************Naples was founded between the 7th and 6th centuries BC by the Greeks (actually, by inhabitants of the Greek colony Cuma) and was given the name Neapolis, meaning new city. During the period of Roman domination, the town preserved its Greek language and customs. Following the Roman period, the city was dominated by many different groups of people (Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Spaniards, Austrians, Bourbons and revolutionary French). Nowadays one can see the traces of all those rulers in the monuments, in the culture and in the habits of the town. In 1266 the Angevins moved the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily from Palermo to Naples. Sicily soon parted and formed an independent Kingdom of Sicily. After the Congress of Vienna Naples became the capital of the united Kingdom of Two Sicilies. After a long period of decline following the creation of the Italian State over 100 years ago, the city is making strides in recovering its eminence as a center for culture.********************Naples is the largest and most prosperous city in Southern Italy and one of the largest cities in Italy, with a population of 1,000,449. It has a greater metropolitan population of 3,085,447 (other estimates include up to 4.2 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area). Unlike many Northern Italian cities where immigrants make up a large segment, there are few immigrants in Naples. In 2004, there was a total 40,413 foreigners in greater Naples, numbering slightly over 1.3% of the total population. Like many other Western European cities, Naples has been witnessing an influx of Eastern Europeans, who make up the vast majority of the foreigners in Naples. Many of them are labourers from Ukraine, Poland, Albania, and Romania. Non-Europeans such as the Chinese, Arabs from North Africa, and sub-Saharan Blacks are few in number.*******************Unlike Northern Italy, where many cities have an older age profile, Naples and many other southern cities have higher proportions of youth. However, there has been a great exodus of young people leaving southern cities for the more prosperous and orderly north, such as the Lombardia region. Also, there has been a demographic shift in Italy over the past few years: fertility rates in northern cities have been on the rise, whereas southern rates have dropped drastically.***********In 1995 the Historic Centre of Naples was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Although Naples is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and rich in history and monuments, it is sometimes overlooked by mass tourism and is less visited than other Italian cities. There are, however, many attractions within the city. *********************** Sorrento is a small city in Campania, Italy, with some 16,500 inhabitants. It is a popular tourist destination. The town can be reached easily from Naples and Pompeii, as it lies at the south-eastern end of the Circumvesuviana rail line. The town overlooks the bay of Naples, as the key place of the Sorrentine Peninsula, and many viewpoints in the city allow sight of Naples itself (visible across the bay) and Vesuvius.*******************he Amalfi Drive (connecting Sorrento and Amalfi) is the narrow road that threads around the high cliffs above the Mediterranean. Ferry boats and hydrofoils provide services to Naples, Amalfi, Positano, Capri and Ischia. Sorrento's sea cliffs are impressive and its luxury hotels have attracted famous personalities including Enrico Caruso and Luciano Pavarotti. Sorrento is famous for the production of Limoncello, an alcoholic digestif made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water and sugar. Other agricultural production includes citrus fruit, wine, nuts and olives. Wood craftsmanship is also developed.*****************The Roman name for Sorrento was Surrentum. Legends indicate a close connexion between Lipara and Surrentum, as though the latter had been a colony of the former; and even through the Imperial period Surrentum remained largely Greek. The oldest ruins are Oscan, dating from about 600 BCE. Before the Roman supremacy, Surrentum was one of the towns subject to Nuceria, and shared its fortunes up to the Social War; it seems to have joined in the revolt of 90 BCE like Stabiae; and was reduced to obedience in the following year, when it seems to have received a colony. Numerous sepulchral inscriptions of Imperial slaves and freedmen have been found at Surrentum. An inscription shows that Titus in the year after the earthquake of 79 CE restored the horologium of the town and its architectural decoration. A similar restoration of an unknown building in Naples in the same year is recorded in an inscription from the last-named town. The most important temples of Surrentum were those of Athena and of the Sirens (the latter the only one in the Greek world in historic times); the former gave its name to the promontory. In antiquity Surrentum was famous for its wine (oranges and lemons which are now so much cultivated there not having been introduced into Italy in antiquity), its fish, and its red Campanian vases; the discovery of coins of Massilia, Gaul and the Balearic Islands here indicates the extensive trade which it carried on.*****************Sorrento became an archbishopric around 420 CE. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was ruled by the Ostrogoths and then returned to the Eastern Empire. The Lombards, who conquered much of southern Italy in second half of the 6th century, sieged it in vain. In the following centuries the authority of the far Byzantium empire faded, Sorrento became an autonomous duchy. It fought against the neighbour/rival Amalfi and the Saracens, and in 1133 it was conquered by the Norman Roger II of Hauteville. From this point, Sorrento's history followed that of the newly created Kingdom of Sicily. On June 13, 1558 it was sacked by Muslim pirates, an event which led to the construction of a new line of walls. The most striking event of the following century was the revolt against the Spanish domination of 1648, led by Giovanni Grillo. In 1656 a plague struck the city. However, Sorrento remained one of the most important centres of the southern Campania.

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Naples (Italian: Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule) is the capital city of the Campania region and the Province of Naples. Its metropolitan area is the second most populated in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. It is located halfway between the volcano, Vesuvius and a separate volcanic area, the Campi Flegrei, both of which form part of the Campanian volcanic arc. The city itself has a population of around 1 million, the inhabitants are known as Neapolitans, napoletani or poetically partenopei. It is rich in historical, artistic and cultural traditions and gastronomy. The Neapolitan language is the geographically most diffuse Italian language, similar variations of the Neapolitan dialect ('o napulitano) are spoken throughout most of Southern Italy. Between 1266 and 1861, Naples was the capital town of the Kingdom of Naples (later of the Two Sicilies), usually simply indicated as "the Kingdom", other Italian states having different denominations. This history, coupled with its size, has given Naples the unofficial status of being the Capital of the South (in Italy). In the modern day, the city is served by Naples International Airport at Capodichino, a civil airport hosted by a military one, once outside the town, now surrounded by built up area.******************Naples was founded between the 7th and 6th centuries BC by the Greeks (actually, by inhabitants of the Greek colony Cuma) and was given the name Neapolis, meaning new city. During the period of Roman domination, the town preserved its Greek language and customs. Following the Roman period, the city was dominated by many different groups of people (Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Spaniards, Austrians, Bourbons and revolutionary French). Nowadays one can see the traces of all those rulers in the monuments, in the culture and in the habits of the town. In 1266 the Angevins moved the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily from Palermo to Naples. Sicily soon parted and formed an independent Kingdom of Sicily. After the Congress of Vienna Naples became the capital of the united Kingdom of Two Sicilies. After a long period of decline following the creation of the Italian State over 100 years ago, the city is making strides in recovering its eminence as a center for culture.********************Naples is the largest and most prosperous city in Southern Italy and one of the largest cities in Italy, with a population of 1,000,449. It has a greater metropolitan population of 3,085,447 (other estimates include up to 4.2 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area). Unlike many Northern Italian cities where immigrants make up a large segment, there are few immigrants in Naples. In 2004, there was a total 40,413 foreigners in greater Naples, numbering slightly over 1.3% of the total population. Like many other Western European cities, Naples has been witnessing an influx of Eastern Europeans, who make up the vast majority of the foreigners in Naples. Many of them are labourers from Ukraine, Poland, Albania, and Romania. Non-Europeans such as the Chinese, Arabs from North Africa, and sub-Saharan Blacks are few in number.*******************Unlike Northern Italy, where many cities have an older age profile, Naples and many other southern cities have higher proportions of youth. However, there has been a great exodus of young people leaving southern cities for the more prosperous and orderly north, such as the Lombardia region. Also, there has been a demographic shift in Italy over the past few years: fertility rates in northern cities have been on the rise, whereas southern rates have dropped drastically.***********In 1995 the Historic Centre of Naples was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Although Naples is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and rich in history and monuments, it is sometimes overlooked by mass tourism and is less visited than other Italian cities. There are, however, many attractions within the city. *********************** Sorrento is a small city in Campania, Italy, with some 16,500 inhabitants. It is a popular tourist destination. The town can be reached easily from Naples and Pompeii, as it lies at the south-eastern end of the Circumvesuviana rail line. The town overlooks the bay of Naples, as the key place of the Sorrentine Peninsula, and many viewpoints in the city allow sight of Naples itself (visible across the bay) and Vesuvius.*******************he Amalfi Drive (connecting Sorrento and Amalfi) is the narrow road that threads around the high cliffs above the Mediterranean. Ferry boats and hydrofoils provide services to Naples, Amalfi, Positano, Capri and Ischia. Sorrento's sea cliffs are impressive and its luxury hotels have attracted famous personalities including Enrico Caruso and Luciano Pavarotti. Sorrento is famous for the production of Limoncello, an alcoholic digestif made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water and sugar. Other agricultural production includes citrus fruit, wine, nuts and olives. Wood craftsmanship is also developed.*****************The Roman name for Sorrento was Surrentum. Legends indicate a close connexion between Lipara and Surrentum, as though the latter had been a colony of the former; and even through the Imperial period Surrentum remained largely Greek. The oldest ruins are Oscan, dating from about 600 BCE. Before the Roman supremacy, Surrentum was one of the towns subject to Nuceria, and shared its fortunes up to the Social War; it seems to have joined in the revolt of 90 BCE like Stabiae; and was reduced to obedience in the following year, when it seems to have received a colony. Numerous sepulchral inscriptions of Imperial slaves and freedmen have been found at Surrentum. An inscription shows that Titus in the year after the earthquake of 79 CE restored the horologium of the town and its architectural decoration. A similar restoration of an unknown building in Naples in the same year is recorded in an inscription from the last-named town. The most important temples of Surrentum were those of Athena and of the Sirens (the latter the only one in the Greek world in historic times); the former gave its name to the promontory. In antiquity Surrentum was famous for its wine (oranges and lemons which are now so much cultivated there not having been introduced into Italy in antiquity), its fish, and its red Campanian vases; the discovery of coins of Massilia, Gaul and the Balearic Islands here indicates the extensive trade which it carried on.*****************Sorrento became an archbishopric around 420 CE. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was ruled by the Ostrogoths and then returned to the Eastern Empire. The Lombards, who conquered much of southern Italy in second half of the 6th century, sieged it in vain. In the following centuries the authority of the far Byzantium empire faded, Sorrento became an autonomous duchy. It fought against the neighbour/rival Amalfi and the Saracens, and in 1133 it was conquered by the Norman Roger II of Hauteville. From this point, Sorrento's history followed that of the newly created Kingdom of Sicily. On June 13, 1558 it was sacked by Muslim pirates, an event which led to the construction of a new line of walls. The most striking event of the following century was the revolt against the Spanish domination of 1648, led by Giovanni Grillo. In 1656 a plague struck the city. However, Sorrento remained one of the most important centres of the southern Campania.

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cowboyannie said 1/25/2009

 

I had the loveliest day in Sorrento. 5 Stars *****

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