Naples - what’s going on?

[u/guarrandongo]

First time here and I’d heard a million times that it was a bit run down & grubby etc., but I was shocked to see the state of large areas of the city centre. I’m Scottish and it reminded me of Edinburgh during the bin strikes 3 or so years ago - 8 foot high piles of rubbish everywhere. Even saw some decomposing rats lying around that had clearly been there for weeks. Was a full-time job trying to avoid standing on dog shit as well. Assuming it was dogs! One guy also definitely trying to get me to take my hands out of my pockets in an attempt to rob me, I’m in no doubt about that. It wasn’t happening, though.

I took plenty of advice from various people to find the ‘nice’ parts, but we wandered around those areas for a couple of hours and it was terrible.

Has it gone downhill recently, or has it always been like this?

Any further advice on some decent areas with nice bars etc. would be welcome. We only have tonight left and we’d like to try enjoy it as best we can. Had a great dinner last night so wasn’t a total write-off, but after it certainly was. I’d rather not go out than wander around these areas again.

What’s actually going on here?

[u/tidalswave]

Naples is a shit hole. I’m not even trying to be mean. I lived in Italy for a while about 10 years ago, spoke close to fluent Italian, went tons of places solo and with friends. Wouldn’t touch Naples with a ten foot pole. My friends were so confused why I wouldn’t join them in a weekend, thought I was being dramatic … and they got robbed on the street in broad daylight. Really shook them up.

Anytime I know someone going to Naples I warn them, they blow me off (it can’t be that bad!) and then they come back and say: Naples is a shit hole.