NorthShore

It is real all right - real dirty, ugly and crime-ridden. Skip it and enjoy the many much nicer places in Italy.

bellastar

Huitres, I was robbed, years ago, in broad daylight. on a crowed street in Rome. This one incident, which was awful, since I was young and inexperienced, and they got every thing I had, passport, money, jewelry, identification, everything. Since that time, I have gone back to that wonderful city numerous times and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I think it depends on the person as to whether you allow a single bad experience to color the future indefinitely.

Thanks (Ira or Mark DM) (the posts are confused for some reason} for your wonderful comments, I agree that the Galleria Umberto is a magical experience, I love to stand in the middle and imagine all of the wheelings and dealings betweem famous opera stars and their agents that have taken place over the years at those little tables under the glass vaulted ceiling, just magnificent!!!

Better known places? The Teatro San Carlo is the oldest opera house of all!!!!

Ps somehow my posts got mixed up with those of rbrazil- mine (attributed to rbrazil at 8:23 pm last night is a post commenting on the confusion of the Camorra wars with the different issue of pickpocketting. SOme tech glitch I am sure. TO abe clear, I am a big fan of Bella Napoli!!!

MarkDM

Sorry to hear about the bad experiences and other (unsupported) negative comments (NorthShore). Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. I'd be dissapointed if the day came that I walked up to a merchant or someone on the street in Napoli and they spoke to me in english before I could get a word out- as they do in Rome, Florence and Venice. To each his (or her) own, and I'd be perfectly happy if Naples remained low on the tourist list.

bellastar

Mark DM- There is a young Neapolitan film director whose work you would love, his name is Papi Corsicato, I don't know if his films are available from here, but maybe can be found through imdb.com. He shows the character of the people of Naples beautifully!.

I learned to laugh with people in Naples when I went to a market there and asked where I could buy a nice giftwrapped brick as a souvenir- a twist on thier usual trick! This got a few good chuckles from the street vendors!

I agree with your views completely!!!

NorthShore

MarkDM, what are you talking about when you say unsupported?

I've been there and just tell it like it is. Sorry, I couldn't give you a cute little "positive story" about how great it was, but that would be a lie.

Huitres

As I mentioned, I went back to Napoli a couple months ago - 1 year after this happened. For the very reason to give the city another shot. As I explained, while nothing happened this time, I still felt a bit uneasy. I am very city-savvy and sharp. My friends in Naples understood my concerns perfectly as they know what happened to me the last time. I am good-humored about it, Naples certainly does have a wonderful history and I love the I Campi Flegrei area of Greek and Roman ruins. My friends there are wonderful with kind hearts. I will go back for visits (this Spring) but would rather not stay in the city this time. People either love or hate Naples - I would fall in between that range. I was encouraged to know that other Italians feel the same about this city as I do, so I am certainly not alone. BTW, I love Roma and have never once felt on edge there - ever. Roma to me is a big city like L.A. and I love it, it's one of my most favorite cities in bella Italia.

mmr41

Lisa -- Mark and Ira have stated most of my sentiments regarding napoli. I, too, am a member of the "I love Naples" club. Granted it isn't the Italy of your dreams, but neither is renting a villa in Tuscany representative of Italy.

It is a large, crowded compressed city that spouts all of life's emotions all the time.

Take a step back and enjoy, but watch your pockets.

bellastar

Huitres, I'm glad you came back to clarify your opinion of Napoli. I wish you well, and hope you enjoy many future visits with your good friends from there. It's interesting to find that you live in LA.

I am smiling a little, because I lived in A for 8 years (and now in NYC). The very first night i moved to LA, a swarm of police helicopters arrived above my new neighborhood, chasing someone who had been shooting a gun in the street! The cars in the underground garage of my building were broken into nightly by a local gang who would rip out the batteries to resell. Happened to me twice, and every night coming home from work, I was frightened just parking and walking to the stairs.

I still go back to LA to see friends, and once I wanted to drive through my old neighborhood just to see it, and they said it had gotten much rougher, with drive by shootings not uncommon, (and there are lots of little kids who live there too).

But I wouldn't steer clear of LA because of this, because as a big city, it has so much else to offer!!

I am so glad you have some nice friends there to balance your impressions, and i hope the trauma of being robbed lessens with time!!

I have several friends from Florence too, and they believe they are the only ones who can speak proper Italian in all of Italy, it is quite popular there to "hate" the south (as especially represented by Naples!. They are lovely people, and through them, I have learned that you are really talking about 2 very different cultures when you talk about Naples and Florence!!

In the spirit of Christmas, I am contemplating the Neapolitan tradition of handcrafted creche figures, an art developed in Naples. These figures are exquisitely beautiful, and the ones made in Naples are without compare anywhere else in Italy, not just because they depict the traditional figures of the Nativity, but there are also figures of every sort of person and animal, many animated, and lovingly depicting every detail of life, warts, deformities, and all! Neapolitan creche figures are truly an embodiment of one thing I love most about the people of Naples, whatever else they may be, they have such fine bravado and spirit!!!

They don't look away from life, picking only the convenient things, the pretty things. Life is swallowed whole, undiluted. Whenever I visit, I come away moved by the experience of being there!

bellastar

Uh Huitres, I just read my reply, and that mean smiley IS A TYPO! yikes, I'm sorry, because as Randy N. sings: "I love LA" too!

Huitres

bellastar, being an LA native, born and bred here, I have never once felt uneasy or on edge (except maybe the random time or two that I got off the 10 Fwy and found myself in East LA on unrecognizable streets!). But even that is not a deterrent as I have not experienced any attack, theft, or anything on my person. I am not sure where you lived to have drive-bys and gang activity. That is horrible and sad. The local media coverage on that has dropped a bit, leading me to believe that sort of activity had dissapated as well. I live near Westwood and the area is quite nice. Fortunately, it balances the other sectors of LA that aren't so pleasant.

I love the Capodimonte porcelain figures from Napoli. My friends gave me several hand-painted roses that are just exquisite. I do admit, it is the very gusto and aggressiveness of the Neapolitans that both intrigues and offends so many. So true about northern Italians hating Napoli....strange bias but not unlike our own country with the northern, more industrial cities of the Northeast vs the smaller, quieter (dare I say "hick"?) towns of the South. Anyway, Napoli does have the best pizza hands-down; however, I was relieved to know that it is made just as well all down the Amalfi Coast too!

Cassandra

Those of you familiar with crimes against tourists in Naples, can you comment specifically on the train station? We have to go through there twice on the way from Rome to Sorrento and then from Sorrento to Florence, each involving a change of trains to/from the Circumvesuviana, which is an upstairs-downstairs deal I believe. Are the various kinds of pickpockets and scam artists very active there? Any hints for avoiding them?

Nikki

Cassandra, funny you should ask. I have only been in Naples for half an hour changing trains in each direction, and my husband had his pocket picked getting on the Circumvesuviana. A group of well-dressed men in their thirties or forties blocked his way as he was getting on the train, grabbed his wallet from a front pocket and jumped off as the train was leaving.

The way to avoid this would be to notice if there are a lot of people standing right at the door blocking your way. Get on at a different door, don't try to get through the crowd.

After this happened, we noticed the same technique on the metro in Rome. This time we knew what was up. Additionally, this time it was a group of thirteen year old girls, a little easier to handle. One slid her hand along my purse and I gave her a push.

ira

Hi Cassandra,

>Are the various kinds of pickpockets and scam artists very active there? Any hints for avoiding them?<

They are just as active as in any other large European train station.

I close all of my pockets with safety pins and keep my valuables in a travel wallet under my clothes.

Don't take your eyes off your luggage.

Don't worry, take the same precautions you would in any large city and enjoy your visit to Italy.

ParadiseLost

Cassandra: Be very rude, do not acknowledge anyone who approaches you, do not except help from anyone for anything.
And I mean *anyone*. They might have on a blue smock like the train station employees or they might be a fellow tourist who claims they were just pickpocketed and need money to get back to Rome and their embassy or such.
The 'blue smocks' might offer to find your train, car and seats. Carry your luggage or just point you in the right direction for your train, ticket windows, Circumvesuviana, etc.
They will except a large tip and some will get threating (usually verbal) if you don't pay up, although I'm certain they wouldn't get physical. There is a large police presence in the station and it seems that they allow the scamming by these same people everyday but I doubt they would let these scammers actually get violent, in 'The Godfather' movie terms "it would be bad for business" .
Either the police don't care or are in bed with these scammers, that's just my opinion.
I have actually seen 2 of these clowns wearing blue smocks and using the station's motorized
luggage cart that tows a small flatbed to cart tourists from the far end of an ES train to the front of the station. And then demanding money for what people thought was a free service like in the airports I assume.
Of course be weary of pickpockets in the station, on the Circumvesuiana platform and train also be sure that your luggage can't be snatched seconds before the train doors close.
I have stayed 4x in hotels right by the train station and was in & out of the station at least twice a day for the metro, the Circumvesuviana and local trains.
I have had a confrontation with a scammer (old man pointing to the Circumvesuviana ticket windows who I ignored, his partner was a big young man) that I thought was going to be a physical confrontation.
And I was almost robbed on the Circumvesuviana train by 2 young men. Long story (they even followed me into another car) but because of my big size and their small size, I can only conclude that it definitely would have been a violent or armed robbery/attack. It would have been as soon as I got off the train. I had my back to the door and stepped-out at the last second before the door closed. You should have seen their surprised expressions and then their anger as I gave them a little bye-bye wave (think 'French Connection' movie ). BTW I attracted them, I was wearing my jewelry (large cobra ring, necklace & dragon and bracklet: all gold) and loaded my fairly expensive camera on the platform) so I'm a dummy . But people usually don't target me because of my size and appearance.
I still wear my jewelry everywhere else in Italy but never again in Naples .
Honestly you will have no problems, millions pass thru that station every year and there are police there.
Just ignore the scammers, don't be a target for the pickpockets and don't dangle gold in front of the local misguided youths .
And for a comparison of bad areas so no one thinks I'm parnoid , read dozens of my positive posts about the safety
of staying in the Termini area.
Regards, Walter

SeaUrchin

ok, I might as well add my two cents here. The first time I went through Napoli to get to Sorrento on the train I was traveling with some friends and we were scared stiff by the warnings. A kindly older little wizened man offered his help and I accepted. He showed us where to buy our tickets, waited in line with us, walked up to the ticket counter with me and ordered in Italian and then walked us to the Circumvesuviana station and then held out his hand for a tip. So I tipped him, no big deal it was worth it to me.
Use your intuition and judgment as in any case.

Local friends in that area have told me to take off or hide gold jewelry when going to Naples as they do the same themselves, explaining to me that it is a port city and immigrants from around the world come and go from there.

Another time I was walking with a girlfriend in Napoli and a local woman came running up to me and sort of startled me, but she was warning me to hold onto my purse and she demonstrated how I should carry it.

When I am in downtown Los Angeles like others have written I keep my purse across my chest too. Napoli is a crowded city with poor inhabitants some of whom will take advantage of easy money so just be aware. I don't think it is any more dangerous than any other city around the world of its type and since alot of us travel around the world I can't see why some of us get so excited and worried about Napoli.

I have met some very nice, sophisicated, world traveled people who live in Napoli, it is a mixture (and wonderful).

MrAmazed

Funny how these praises of Napoli remind me of those creative real estate ads for places you wouldn't give a second glance at.

barbmike

SeaUrchin, do you live in the Los Angeles area? Merry Christmas, Mike

SeaUrchin

Ha Mr. Amazed, would you like to buy some lovely property on the rim of Mt. Vesuvius? I just happen to be selling some, keep in touch.

Hi Mike, yes I was born in LA and have lived here all of my life. I know there are areas here where I would be risking my life if I ventured into them lugging luggage and wearing gold jewelry.

ParadiseLost

SeaUrchin: "A kindly older little wizened man offered his help and I accepted."
Sounds exactly like the same man I ran into and I have seen him more than once there by the ticket windows.
But the big deal is his big boy accomplice , whose job it seems is to intimidate or extort those who either refuse his help, don't tip or not enough. Regards, Walter

bellastar

It's all a matter of point-of-view then even of it was the same man. When arriving at Naples and transferring to the Circumsuviana, this didn't happen to me.

However, I did ask someone who seemed like a commuter if I was headed in the right direction, and they were both polite and helpful. If Seaurchin chose to tip the man, good for her (and him!)

Walter, your choice of jewelry would probably even get their attention, I can imagine that story flew through the station the minute you were first spotted!!! )
" (large cobra ring, necklace & dragon and bracklet: all gold)" approaching at two o'clock, heading for Circumuviana, send in team number three...)

In the station, I also had a problem once with my rented cellphone, and the guys at the newstand were helpful too, and took time to get it working for me.

I must have gone through the Naples train station half a dozen times, and was never pressured by the blue smocks, Other travelers (often Neapolitans) helped me out numerous times.

My point about LA is that what you hear and what you read about a place is rarely the whole truth, especially in large (and ancient) cities like Naples.