The San Carlo opera house, with its area of 5,157 sq.yd. and its stalls capable of seating i,000 spectators, is one of the largest in Europe. It was originally built in 1737 under Charles III., but was destroyed by fire in 1816 and completely rebuilt. The Mercadante dates from 1778.
Charitable institutions are numerous in Naples. The Reclusorio or poorhouse was founded in the 18th century, and besides being a refuge for the indigent poor has a series of industrial schools attached, at which foundling boys are educated and taught trades. There are also several hospitals, the largest being the Incurabili, founded in 1519.
At a very early date the original harbour at Naples, now known in its greatly reduced state as Porto Piccolo, and fit only for boats and lighters, became too small. In 1302 Charles II. of Anjou began the construction of the Porto Grande by forming the Molo Grande or San Gennaro, which stretched east ward into the bay, and was terminated by a lighthouse in the 15th century. By the addition of a new pier running north-east from the lighthouse, and protected by a heavily armed battery, Charles III. in 1740 added greatly to the safety of the harbour. In 1826 the open area to the south of the Porto Grande was formed into the Porto Militare by the construction of the Molo San Vincenzo, 1,200 ft. long. The lengthening of the Molo San Vincenzo to a total of more than 5,000 ft., and the construction of curving moles on the east to meet it, has formed a large outer basin, the Avamporto, and an inner harbour (Porto Mercantile). New quays have been made all the way from the old Immaco latella landing-place to the Capitaneria di Porto, close to which is the marine railway station, with piers such that the largest liner can lie alongside the jetty. The depth of this new harbour is from 25 to 3o feet. To the east are dock basins, silos for grain and other warehouses. In 1926 the total tonnage entering the port amounted to 8,540,025 tons in 9,536 vessels, while the clear ances were almost identical; 1,711,500 tons of goods were im ported, and 422,137 exported (including coastwise trade) ; while the passenger traffic was 650,503 embarked, and 627,378 disem barked. The difference is accounted for by the excess of Italian emigrants over those returning from abroad; while the figures are enormously swollen by the passengers on the night mail boats to and from Palermo. The specialties of Naples are the manufac ture of coral, tortoise-shell, kid gloves and macaroni, but it has been growing also as an industrial centre. The port of Naples
is second only to that of Genoa.
Naples has as fine a water supply as any city in Europe, derived from the hills in the neighbourhood of Avellino. It is received in a covered masonry canal, whence it flows in iron pipes till it reaches five enormous reservoirs con structed just opposite to the entrance gates of the royal palace at Capodimonte. Hence it comes by natural gravitation into the town at a pressure of five atmospheres, so that it supplies the highest parts of the town with abundant water. The supply was brought into the town just after the terrible cholera outbreak of 1884. The effect on the health of the city has been extraordinary. Cholera epidemics, which used to be frequent, have become things of the past, and there is now abundant water.
Naples has increased in modern times at an enormous rate. On the large areas reclaimed from the sea, hotels and mansions let in flats have been erected. The gardens at the west end of the town are all built over. The Vomero is now an important suburb. The commune has been built over in every direction, one great incentive being the creation of an industrial zone to the eastward of the city, set aside for the purpose of industrial development. It now contains a large num ber of factories for spinning silk, cotton, jute and wool, and the making of railway plant, automobiles, the building of ships, etc. After the cholera epidemic of 1884, Depretis, then premier, visited Naples, and uttered the famous dictum "Bisogna sventrare Napoli"—"Naples must be disembowelled!" The worst slums, which lay between the centre of the town and the railway sta tion, were pulled down and a wide street was constructed from the centre of the town to the eastward. A large working-class quarter was erected to the north and beyond the railway station, known as the Rione Vasto. There are also new middle-class quarters at Santa Lucia, Vomero Nuovo and Sant' Efremo, Poggioreale and Fuorigrotta, and better houses on the Riviera di Chiaja, Via Elena and Via Caracciolo at Mergellina, Via Partenope near the Chiatamone, and an aristocratic quarter in the large extensions made in the Rione Amedeo. The narrow alleys of Porto, Pendino and Mercato have nearly all disappeared, and old Naples has been vanishing day by day. About 50,000,000 lire were assigned to Naples in 5927-28 for public works.