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Italy: Campania

Overview

Campania (named Campania Felix by the Romans) contains the provinces of Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Naples (Napoli) and Salerno. The city of Naples (population 1.1 million) is the regional capital and, indeed, the unofficial capital of the whole of southern Italy. The population of Campania is around 5.65 million in an area of 35,208 sq km (13,595 sq mi). Agriculture is an important local industry, employing around a quarter of the workforce; other important industries include livestock (e.g. buffalo for the production of mozzarella cheese), canning, textiles, and handicrafts such as leather, coral, inlaid wood and ceramics. The region has a high unemployment rate (around 25 per cent).

The area around Naples includes one of the most beautiful coastlines in Italy and the Gulfs of Naples, Salerno and Policastro are home to a number of world-famous resorts, including Positano, Ravello, Sorrento and Vietri sul Mare. Among Italy’s most famous and attractive islands are Capri, Ischia and Procida in the Gulf of Naples. The Isle of Capri has been immortalised in song (as has the Bay of Naples) and the island of Ischia, with its thermal baths, including the Therme di Poseidon, is a favourite among northern visitors. Sorrento, famous for its lemon groves, is the largest and most popular Neapolitan resort.

The region is steeped in history and contains a wealth of Roman ruins, including Pompeii and Herculaneum in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, whose eruption destroyed the towns in AD79. Their excavation provides a fascinating insight into how the ancient Romans lived. Other interesting towns include Padula (with its charterhouse), Sessa Aurunca, Santa Maria Cápua Vetere and Teano. The national parks of Cilento, Valle di Diano and Vesuvius were created in 1991 to protect areas of natural beauty from property speculators. The imposing Greek temples of Paestum in the south are among the best-preserved Greek architecture in the world and there’s also a magnificent royal palace and park (rivalling Versailles) at Caserta.

Naples is famous for the vitality of its citizens, but also for corruption and the mafia (the Camorra is the Neapolitan branch of the mafia), although in recent years the city’s administrators have tried to improve its image to attract more tourists. The city’s extreme poverty is the main reason for the high rate of petty crime (known as microcriminalità), such as thefts and purse-snatching. Naples is considered by many to be a ‘third-world’ city, infamous for its traffic congestion (said to be the worst outside Cairo) and outrageous driving habits. With its splendid art treasures, such as those in the Museum of Capodimonte, and breathtaking natural setting, however, Naples is also a major tourist centre. The 19th century phrase ‘see Naples and die’ (coined in the days of the Grand Tour) referred to its unique charm, not forgetting its poverty, overcrowding and crime. A quarter of Campania’s population lives around Naples, a third of which is under 14. Among the city’s traditions are its devotion to San Gennaro (the local patron saint) and to soccer (calcio).

Property: The property market is buoyant; prices more than doubled in the region as a whole between 1998 and 2003 and in some areas rose by more than 70 per cent. Property on the islands in the archipelago of Capri, Ischia and Procida is prohibitively expensive and little is available. On the Amalfi coast, prices start at €2,000 per sq m, while inland prices fall dramatically to as little as €600 per sq m. In stark contrast with the immaculately painted villas and palazzi in the wealthier resort areas, there are numerous half-abandoned villages in the interior and a plethora of poorly designed and shoddily built apartment blocks dotted along the coast. The region is noted for its high risk of earthquakes and landslides, particularly on the overbuilt coast.

Communications: Naples is an important rail and road junction with good communications to the north and south. Its airport has frequent flights to Rome and Milan and internationally, while the motorway south from Salerno to Reggio Calabria is toll-free in recognition of the region’s poverty. The tiny island of Procida, held by the English navy in 1799, is connected by regular ferries to the mainland, as are the neighbouring islands of Capri and Ischia.

© Survival Books Limited 2003

“Buying a Home in Italy” 3rd Edition, David Hampshire.

Reproduced with the permission of Survival Books Limited.

Further information on this topic can be found in “Buying a Home in Italy” 3rd edition, by David Hampshire.

For extensive information about buying a property in Italy, you can purchase this book at www.survivalbooks.net

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