Italy
Who ruled Naples?
Naples dates from about 600 BCE. On our historical maps, the ground it stands on has been drawn inside 19 different states, empires and peoples. Read the history of Italy.
The history of Naples
Naples curves around a broad bay on the west coast of southern Italy, between the volcanic fields of the Campi Flegrei and the cone of Vesuvius. Its harbour, the fertile volcanic soil of the Campanian plain behind it and its mild climate have drawn settlers for nearly three thousand years. Founded by Greeks, it was for more than five centuries the capital of a kingdom covering the whole of southern Italy and, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one of the largest cities in Europe. Its history combines royal splendour, foreign rule, popular revolt and recurring disasters from plague, war and the volcano.
Greek city to royal capital
Greek colonists from Cumae, the oldest Greek settlement on the Italian mainland, founded a small town called Parthenope on the hill of Pizzofalcone in the late eighth or seventh century BCE. Around the late sixth or early fifth century BCE they built a larger planned town nearby, Neapolis, "new city", whose grid of streets still forms the historic centre (see Ancient Greece). After a siege in 326 BCE Neapolis became an ally of the Roman Republic, but it kept its Greek language and customs for centuries and was a favourite retreat for wealthy Romans and writers such as Virgil. The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE buried nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum, though not Naples itself.
After the fall of the western empire the city passed to the Ostrogoths and then, in the sixth century, to the Byzantine Empire. From the seventh century the Duchy of Naples was in practice self-governing, holding off the Lombards and Arab raiders, until it submitted to the Norman king Roger II of Sicily in 1137. The emperor Frederick II founded its university in 1224. When Charles of Anjou seized the southern kingdom in 1266, he made Naples his capital, and after the revolt of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282 cut off Sicily, the mainland realm became known as the Kingdom of Naples. Alfonso V of Aragon conquered it in 1442 and made it the centre of a brilliant Renaissance court.
Viceroys, Bourbons and Italy
From the early 1500s Naples was ruled by viceroys of the Spanish Empire. It grew into one of the most populous cities in Europe, crowded with nobles, clergy and the urban poor. In 1647 a fisherman named Masaniello led a popular revolt against new taxes, and in 1656 a plague epidemic killed roughly half the population. Austrian rule followed in 1707, until in 1734 Charles of Bourbon made Naples the capital of an independent kingdom again. The Bourbons built the San Carlo opera house, the vast palace at Caserta and the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The French-backed Parthenopean Republic of 1799 was crushed within months, and its leaders were executed. Under Napoleon the kingdom was ruled by his brother Joseph and then by Joachim Murat, before the Bourbons returned and formed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. In September 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi entered Naples, and a plebiscite joined the south to the new Kingdom of Italy during the unification of Italy. Losing its status as a capital, Naples became a centre of mass emigration, and a cholera epidemic in 1884 led to the demolition and rebuilding of its worst slums.
During the Second World War Naples was heavily bombed, and in September 1943 its people rose against the German occupiers in the Four Days of Naples before Allied troops arrived. Vesuvius last erupted in 1944. The historic centre was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995. Naples has about 900,000 inhabitants and some 3 million in its metropolitan area, making it the largest city of southern Italy.
In pictures
2 images · scroll →Timeline
30 periods- 123,000 BCE – 10,000 BCENeanderthalMap of 123,000 BCE →
- 10,000 BCE – 5000 BCENo state drawn here on the mapMap of 10,000 BCE →
- 5000 BCE – 4000 BCEStentinello cultureMap of 5000 BCE →
- 4000 BCE – 1500 BCENo state drawn here on the mapMap of 4000 BCE →
- 1500 BCE – 1000 BCEUrnfield culturesMap of 1500 BCE →
- 1000 BCE – 700 BCEUrnfield culturesMap of 1000 BCE →
- 700 BCE – 500 BCEUrnfield culturesMap of 700 BCE →
- 500 BCE – 400 BCENo state drawn here on the mapMap of 500 BCE →
- 400 BCE – 323 BCERoman RepublicMap of 400 BCE →
- 323 BCE – 200 BCENo state drawn here on the mapMap of 323 BCE →
- 200 BCE – 100 BCERomeMap of 200 BCE →
- 100 BCE – 1 BCERoman RepublicMap of 100 BCE →
- 1 BCE – 300 CERoman EmpireMap of 1 BCE →
- 300 CE – 400 CERome (Maximian)Map of 300 CE →
- 400 CE – 500 CEWestern Roman EmpireMap of 400 CE →
- 500 CE – 600 CEOstrogothsMap of 500 CE →
- 600 CE – 800 CELombard principalitiesMap of 600 CE →
- 800 CE – 1000 CELombard duchiesMap of 800 CE →
- 1000 CE – 1100 CEDuchy of BeneventoMap of 1000 CE →
- 1100 CE – 1200 CENorman Sicily and ApuliaMap of 1100 CE →
- 1200 CE – 1279 CEDuchy of BeneventoMap of 1200 CE →
- 1279 CE – 1492 CESicilyMap of 1279 CE →
- 1492 CE – 1530 CEAragónMap of 1492 CE →
- 1530 CE – 1650 CENaplesMap of 1530 CE →
- 1650 CE – 1700 CENaplesunder Spanish HabsburgMap of 1650 CE →
- 1700 CE – 1783 CENaplesunder Habsburg MonarchyMap of 1700 CE →
- 1783 CE – 1878 CEKingdom of the Two SiciliesMap of 1783 CE →
- 1878 CE – 1914 CEItalyMap of 1878 CE →
- 1914 CE – 1920 CEKingdom of Italyunder ItalyMap of 1914 CE →
- 1920 CE – todayItalyMap of 1920 CE →
Quick answers
- Who rules Naples today?
- On the latest map, Naples is in Italy.
- Who ruled Naples the longest?
- On our maps, the Roman Empire, for about 301 years (1 BCE to 300 CE).
- How many times has Naples changed hands?
- Our maps show it passing to a new ruler 12 times since 1 CE.
- Who ruled Naples in 1 CE, 1000, 1500 and 1900?
- In 1 CE: Roman Empire. In 1000: Duchy of Benevento. In 1500: Aragón. In 1900: Italy.
Dates are the years of our map snapshots, which are decades or centuries apart, so a change shown between two years happened at some point in that gap. The borders come from the historical-basemaps project and are approximate, especially for the ancient world and for peoples without fixed frontiers.
Naples on this site
- Events in Naples
- Eruption of Vesuvius (79 CE)
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