"See Naples and then die "
(Neapolitan proverb about the beauty of the city)

Naples is one of the oldest cities in the Western Europe, little is known about the historical events that marked its origin.
But like all ancient city (Babylon, Troy, Rome), which have a mythological traditions and legends of its origin, the birth of Naples is hidden from the charming veil of myth and legend.
It 'hard to find a common version of the many stories that have enriched the heritage of legends about the origin of Naples, scholars and writers over the centuries, have generously dispensed with flair and imagination to illustrate many stories, enriching each version in detail and new characters.
But the protagonist of all the legends about the foundation of Naples is always the mythical siren Partenope that fall victim of the conning of Ulysses and angrily left the formidable obstacle of the sirens in order to reach the islet of Megaride, which houses the current Borgo Marinaro in Via Partenope. From the charm of the myth,

In the archaeological excavations of Pompei has been brought to light the ancient Roman city destroyed tragically after one of the eruptions of the nearby Vesuvius vulcan in the year 79.
A few years earlier - in 62 - a terrible earthquake, warning of far worse catastrophe that would have struck the city in a few years, struck the city of Pompeii and Herculaneum and other towns in Campania.
Pompei was seriously damaged, but immediately began the work of reconstruction.

"Vesuvius, after the glaciers, is the most impressive performance of the energies of nature that I have ever seen. Not have the immesurable greatness, or the irresistible grandeur, above all, the radiant beauty of the glaciers, but have all their characteristic strength, tremendous and irresistible "
Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Vesuvius is a sight of unusual beauty in the landscape of the Gulf, especially when viewed from the sea with the city skyline. A famous picture postcard taken from the hill of Posillipo did get right in the collective imagination of the city of Naples, even by locals is considered a stereotype like the famous sun - sea - mandolin. Not as stereotypes, but more importantly is that Vesuvius has primacy in the world: this is the first vulcan that has been studied systematically. After the 1944 eruption, Vesuvius is dormant. This rest period is atypical, so the recovery of the eruptive activity appears severely delayed. For this, it is considered that Vesuvius is out of the type of activity studied.

The Sorrento Peninsula has a unique landscape, where alternate high and low hills, deep valleys and majestic mountains, where was the great man's work, which has placed the most inaccessible areas, transforming them in the famous terraces, degrading stepped of earth towards the sea, over which it has grown oranges, lemons, olives and vines. Are the gardens of delight that in springtime exhale a stirring scent of orange blossoms.