NAPLES (Ital. Napoli, and Lat. Neapolis), formerly the capi tal of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and since 1860 the chief town of the province which bears its name. It was the largest city in the country in 1901, containing 547,503 inhabitants, but has now been outstripped by Milan. Its population in 1931 was 631,420 (town), 839,390 (commune). It is the see of a cardinal archbishop; the residence of the general commanding the X. Army Corps and of the admiral commanding the second Naval Department of Italy; and it possesses also an ancient and im portant university. Since 1925 the province has been placed under a high commissioner.
Naples disputes with Constantinople the claim of occupying the most beautiful site in Europe. It is situated on the northern shore of the Bay of Naples (Sinus Cumanus), in 40° 52' N., 15' 45" E., as taken from the lighthouse on the mole. By rail it is distant 135 m. from Rome, by the direct line, and 155 by the older line via Cassino. (For map, see ITALY.) The circuit of the bay is about 35 m. from the capo di Miseno on the north west to the Punta della Campanella on the south-east, or more than 52 m. if the islands of Ischia, at the north-west, and of Capri, at the south entrance, be included. At its opening between these two islands it is 14 m. broad; while another 4 m. separates Capri from the mainland at the Punta della Campanella, and from the opening to its head at Portici the distance is 15 miles. It affords good anchorage, with nearly 7 fathoms of water, and is well sheltered, except from winds which blow from points between south-east and south-west.
On the north-east shore east of Naples is an extensive flat, forming part of the ancient Campania Felix, and watered by the small stream Sebeto and by the Sarno, which last, in classical times, formed the port of Pompeii. From this flat, between the sea and the range of the Apennines, rises Mt. Vesuvius, at the base of which, on or near the sea-shore, are populous villages as well as the classic sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii. At the south-east extremity of the plain, 3 m. beyond the outlet of the Sarno, a great offshoot of the Apennines, branching from the main range near Cava, and projecting as a peninsula more than 12 m. W., divides the Bay of Naples from the Bay of Salerno (Sinus Paestanus), and ends in the bold promontory of the Punta della Campanella (Promontorium Minervae), which is separated by a strait of 4 m. from Capri. On the north slope of this pen
insula, where the plain ends and the coast abruptly bends to the west, stands the town of Castellammare di Stabia, at the foot of Mt. Sant' Angelo, which rises to a height of 4,722 feet.
The north-west shore to the west of Naples is more broken and irregular. The promontory of Posilipo, which projects due south, divides this part of the bay into two smaller bays—the eastern, with the city of Naples, and the western, or Bay of Baiae, which is sheltered from all winds. A tunnel through the promontory, 2,244 ft. long, 21 ft. broad, and in some places as much as 7o ft. high, possibly constructed by Marcus Agrippa in 27 B.C., forms the so-called grotto of Posilipo; at the Naples end stands the reputed tomb of Virgil, which has recently been restored. Beyond Posilipo is the small island of Nisida (Nesis); and at a short distance inland are the extinct craters of Solfatara and Astroni and the lake of Agnano. Farther west, on the coast, and provided with a convenient harbour, stands Pozzuoli (Puteoli), containing many Roman remains, and beyond it, round the Bay of Baiae, are Monte Nuovo, a hill thrown up in a single night in Sept. 1538; the classic site of Baiae; the Lucrine lake; Lake Avernus; the Lake of Fusaro (Acherusia Pains) ; and the port and promontory of Misenum. Still farther to the south-west lie the islands of Procida (Prochyta) and Ischia (Pithecusa, Aenaria or Inarime), which divide the Bay of Naples from the extensive Bay of Gaeta. All this country was comprised in classi cal times under the title of the Plzlegrean Fields, and was cer tainly then more actively volcanic than it now is, although the severe shock of earthquake which occurred in the island of Ischia in 1883, completely destroyed Casamicciola, and did serious dam age to Forio, Lacco Ameno and Serrara Fontana, shows that there is great seismic activity in the locality. The whole region abounds with fissures, from which steam highly charged with hydrochloric acid is continually issuing, and in many places boiling water is found at a very few feet below the surface.