Naples (Napoli if you live there) is raucous, polluted, anarchic, deafening, crumbling and aristocratic. It's also a lot of fun. Superbly positioned on a bay, Naples screams with energy, pulsating with noisy street markets and colourful characters.

'Naples is an ill-built, ill-paved, ill-lighted, ill-drained, ill-watched, ill-governed and ill-ventilated city', whinged Cook's Tourist's Handbook in 1884. Italy's third-largest city has made big strides forward since then but Cook's observations retain more than a grain of truth.