Oh, no, I can't park my superyacht in Naples!

[DownWest]

Always thort that 'See Naples and die' was about the rampant cholera at the time the quote came from.

 

[MapisM]

Catania and Naples rank the top of the list if you select for Southern cities.

Yeah, and I suppose that if you select the Lake District, Windermere is the most dangerous place ever...

The previous list ranks 150 of the main European cities, which I think is a reasonable comparison.
There's plenty of places left around the planet which would be off the chart, like Tijuana, Caracas, etc.

 

[MapisM]

Come off it Liverpool isn't on the list

It is, at the 40th place - which ain't bad at all, I reckon.
Barcelona is 34th, just to put that in perspective.

 

[MapisM]

Always thort that 'See Naples and die' was about the rampant cholera at the time the quote came from.

Are you referring to the end of the 19th century, which was the really bad one, or to what happened in the early 70s?
Because with the latter, the effects were hugely amplified by the media, which is what your use of "rampant" reminds me.
The death toll was in fact somewhere between 20 and 30 souls, which is awful of course, but almost negligible when compared to what happened practically yesterday with covid.

Regardless, nope, that saying is much older than that.
Many people attribute it to Goethe, who used it (in German) in his Italian trips diary, and the end of the 18th century.
So, well before even the first cholera plague.
Anyhow, Goethe just picked that old saying which he heard in the original Italian version, and used it in his writings that celebrated the beauty of the town.
My understanding is that the true origin is actually unknown, but they found writings who mentioned it even centuries before Goethe did.

 

[Bouba]

That list is interesting and shows that Fr Hackett’s mistake was to visit a city higher on the list than his own...he should have gone to Athens... the good news is that if you are from Bradford you can go anywhere...wherever you go you are tougher than the locals

 

[LittleSister]

the good news is that if you are from Bradford you can go anywhere...wherever you go you are tougher than the locals

I imagine that some of the locals in Naples (and perhaps some of the superyacht owners or their henchmen) could give those from Bradford a run for their money.

 

[Bouba]

I imagine that some of the locals in Naples (and perhaps some of the superyacht owners or their henchmen) could give those from Bradford a run for their money.

Numbers don’t lie
In fact if you study the two metrics in that chart…Bradford is not just a little worse in both categories…it’s a huge statistical jump worse.
Personally I wouldn’t know…it would never occur to me to go to a shitehole like Bradford

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Numbers don’t lie
In fact if you study the two metrics in that chart…Bradford is not just a little worse in both categories…it’s a huge statistical jump worse.
Personally I wouldn’t know…it would never occur to me to go to a shitehole like Bradford

Ilkley moor is nice just at edge of Bradford. But it might be reason why the lad courting there was hatless, was that someone stole it

 

[Roberto]

A glimpse of Neapolitans
1. A few days before car safety belts became compulsory, there were street sellers offering white t-shirts with a black colour front stripe from top left to bottom right. Passenger t-shirts were available too, black band from top right to bottom left
2. When Mikhail Gorbachev was elected, amoeba shaped purple stickers where immediately available "Bald people, here is your moment of glory"
3. When there were magnetic cards to pay for calls from street public telephones, one could buy off the street 10euro cards by paying only 5 euro (ok thousands lira at the time)
4. "In Naples, a red traffic light is not a prohibition, it's just an advice."

There is some historic background (often valid for many other parts of Italy): Italy is a recent country, the formal Union dates to 1861, before that there were many different regional entities which had been under foreign influence/domination for centuries, and often fought against each other. During all this time the local State, Authority was always seen as a sort of vampire one had to find ways of escaping from, avoid paying taxes going into the foreign master pockets, find ways of sneaking through rules, etc etc. Visible remains in today's life.
"The real problem of Naples is Italy" (cit.)

 

[Bouba]

All said and done..right now…I’d rather be in Naples than Paris

 

[Fr J Hackett]

A glimpse of Neapolitans
1. A few days before car safety belts became compulsory, there were street sellers offering white t-shirts with a black colour front stripe from top left to bottom right. Passenger t-shirts were available too, black band from top right to bottom left
2. When Mikhail Gorbachev was elected, amoeba shaped purple stickers where immediately available "Bald people, here is your moment of glory"
3. When there were magnetic cards to pay for calls from street public telephones, one could buy off the street 10euro cards by paying only 5 euro (ok thousands lira at the time)
4. "In Naples, a red traffic light is not a prohibition, it's just an advice."

There is some historic background (often valid for many other parts of Italy): Italy is a recent country, the formal Union dates to 1861, before that there were many different regional entities which had been under foreign influence/domination for centuries, and often fought against each other. During all this time the local State, Authority was always seen as a sort of vampire one had to find ways of escaping from, avoid paying taxes going into the foreign master pockets, find ways of sneaking through rules, etc etc. Visible remains in today's life.
"The real problem of Naples is Italy" (cit.)

We had a very good guide who was a Neapolitan and immensely proud of it more tan anything I have experienced in any country or province. She was adamant that Naples would fare better as a city state and should be independent of Italy. When I was talking to the police about where we had been and who with they shook their heads at one or two of the places she had taken us and I don't mean just the tourist area of the 'Spanish Quarter'

 

[Fr J Hackett]

All said and done..right now…I’d rather be in Naples than Paris

Or Marseilles or Lyon or a few other cities.

 

[MapisM]

She was adamant that Naples would fare better as a city state and should be independent of Italy.

Typical of Neapolitans.
In my very first post of this thread I wrote of Naples "For all its faults, which are certainly plenty...".
Well, this is one of them.
Everyone and their dog in Naples is fully aware that they can only thank God for being part of Italy.
BUT, at the same time they are the best people you will ever come across, anywhere on Earth, at finding excuses for what is wrong in their town - which is sort of understandable, because most of the real reasons have more to see with themselves, rather than anything else.
Besides, they just loooooove trying to convince any "foreigner" that their excuse of the day (you can hear many others, on top of the city state) is gospel truth. And by foreigner I mean anyone coming from outside Naples and its surrounding, therefore including other Italians.
But usually they stop trying if you react by laughing and telling "you will never learn to stop whinging, will you?"

 

[oldmanofthehills]

A glimpse of Neapolitans
1. A few days before car safety belts became compulsory, there were street sellers offering white t-shirts with a black colour front stripe from top left to bottom right. Passenger t-shirts were available too, black band from top right to bottom left
2. When Mikhail Gorbachev was elected, amoeba shaped purple stickers where immediately available "Bald people, here is your moment of glory"
3. When there were magnetic cards to pay for calls from street public telephones, one could buy off the street 10euro cards by paying only 5 euro (ok thousands lira at the time)
4. "In Naples, a red traffic light is not a prohibition, it's just an advice."

There is some historic background (often valid for many other parts of Italy): Italy is a recent country, the formal Union dates to 1861, before that there were many different regional entities which had been under foreign influence/domination for centuries, and often fought against each other. During all this time the local State, Authority was always seen as a sort of vampire one had to find ways of escaping from, avoid paying taxes going into the foreign master pockets, find ways of sneaking through rules, etc etc. Visible remains in today's life.
"The real problem of Naples is Italy" (cit.)

My exwifes mother is from Piedmont in foothill of the alps. They dont even really regard themselves as Italian as their dialect has many french sounding words. As for their opinions of southern italians, the less said the better. My exbrother in law is swarthy and looks southern and was teased. So perhaps their advice on Naples when I passed through Torino was biased.

However I am pleased my son is taking his daughter to see her great great aunt on her 100th birthday in Alessandria and I am happy to travel with my current non-italian wife in italy and she enjoyed naples with my late sister