# Naples, Italy - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naples-italy-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/731225 "2015-09-14T17:46:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naples-italy-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/731225/1 "2015-09-14T17:46:51Z")
I’ve got the possibility of moving to Naples sometime over the next few years. Talking to people I’ve heard variously that it’s a run-down, crime-ridden dump which should be avoided at all costs, and that it’s a beautiful, friendly place with some of the best food in the world and I should go, go, go. Surprisingly, there seems to be very little information on the city in the SDMB archives. So let me ask: has anyone been there? What did you think? How is it _really_? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naples-italy-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/731225/2 "2015-11-19T03:27:32Z")
I’m sorry, I did ask my acquaintance from Naples, and she got back to me, but I forgot to check my email often enough to catch it, so I just found her reply now: > [@](#): > > Allright, Naples. Honestly? If that person doesn’t have a lot of money AND a contact in the city who can help him stay in the good parts, I would very strongly discourage him from moving there. > > Naples is a city of contraddictions. It has some of the greatest natural and artistic wonders in the world, but covered in litter and rotting garbage or hidden in tiny obscure alleys (like, last month I visited a church positively overflowing with breathtaking works of art from the late 1800s, but I basically stumbled into it by chance because it was stuck in a tiny dark slum and I never even knew it existed). It has important theatres and universities and cultural sites, but the bureaucracy is a horrid traumatizing nightmare. It has warm and friendly people, but also the highest crime rates in Italy and a lot of racism (generally expressed as “this one guy from [Poor Country X] is fine because he is my friend and I love him, but people from X are scum.” It’s important to keep in mind that racism in Italy is more tied to the country of origin than the skin colour, so a black guy from America is seen as completely different than a black guy from Africa). Parts of it are wonderful to take a walk in with great view of the sea, while others are insanely chaotic and so polluted you can hardly breathe while you dodge dog poop. It is the home of delicious and healthy cousine, but its fields have been contaminated when the Camorra hid dangerous waste underground and now some of the produce is downright unsafe to eat (cancer rates in Campania are much higher than in the rest of Italy). > > In short, it’s the kind of place where you can have a really great time until you take one wrong turn and get in trouble. If you plan on moving there, make sure you know a trustworthy native to help you fit in. > > Best of luck to that person 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naples-italy-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/731225/3 "2015-11-19T22:27:00Z")
I’ve spent a grand total of about three hours in Naples, returning from Pompeii, and found it nerve-wracking. The streets are very narrow, and very crooked, and space is at a premium, so people conduct business out on the sidewalk. So you have to walk around them, out into the street, but there are cars in the street, going fast, around curves so you don’t see them. Heads up! On the other hand the train station was way newer and nicer and cleaner than anything we have in the US. Go figure.