Naples

In the shadow of Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, Naples is a world city of seductions and mysteries, where art, music, and popular fervor have mingled with history for three millennia. Between sky and sea, light and darkness, this ancient city traces its roots to classical Greece, whose Odyssean myth it still carries. Princess Beatrice of Bourbon Two Sicilies offers us here a declaration of love for the city she knows and cherishes intimately. The eldest daughter of Prince Ferdinand, she opens the doors of palaces and private homes, drawing us into the inner sanctum of the Parthenopean nation with an emotional and tactile sensibility that reveals the grandeur of one of Europe's greatest metropolises-its catacombs and ruined splendor, its beliefs and rites, its capacity to weather catastrophe and renewal with grace and resilience. In this sumptuously illustrated volume, with photographs by Massimo Listri, she invites us to share her passion for the capital of the ancient Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which once shone with power, magnificence, and flourishing arts, proudly preserved and handed down to this day.