As Naples celebrate winning the ‘Series A league’ there is no better time to share my time there whilst visiting friends and family. Naples is a one of the most fascinating cities in Italy teeming with culture and traditions. A city by the sea, alive from sunrise and well into the night.

A beautiful city with palazzos and high-end neighbourhoods, villas with sea views looking over the Mediterranean and there in the background Mount Vesuvius still active and volatile like the city itself.

Once I landed in Naples, first stop was the stadium where Diego Maradona once played and began a legacy that continues to this day. I was lucky enough to be allowed into the stadium even though it was closed and really got to see the size of the stadium with its sea of blue seats.

Below: Quartiere Spagnoli an area which is in the city centre, this once tough area has been transformed into a tourist hot spot full of great trattorias, pizzerias and shops to buy local souvenirs.

One of the best moments throughout this whole journey was when I was able to finally meet my Italian family for the first time after finding each other and speaking online we finally met in a bar on the seafront and have since met each time I have visited Naples.

Here we are enjoying ourselves at the most famous gelateria in Naples Ciro’s, checkout some of the best ice cream and cakes the city has to offer.

As Naples is the original home of pizza, another must see place is the restaurant and pizzeria Cinquanta Kalo 50. There is also one in Northumberland Avenue London.

As the sun goes down and the night arrives I take a trip to a place that is famous for other less glamorous reasons a place in one of the most deprived areas of the city.

Scampia, most recently featured in the hit TV show Gomorrah. The main apartments with their unique architecture and stairwells are featured in many films and there is also a very good documentary recently added on Youtube. Though the area has many issues, there has in recent years been the opening of a new university and projects which hopefully continue to help bring more positive images than those glorifying the neighbourhood for the wrong reasons.

Having breakfast In the city watching the world go by before walking along by the sea I highly recommend a visit to this great city it certainly lives up to the famous line in a letter written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “See Naples and die“