Naples was founded between the VII and the VI century b.C. by the Greeks and was given the name Neapolis.
During the period of Roman domination, the town preserved the Greek language and original habits.

After the Roman period the city was dominated by many different groups of people (Byzantines, Longobards, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragoneses, Spanish, Bourbons and Frenchs). Nowadays one can see the traces of all those dominations in the monuments, in the culture and in the habits of the town. Naples was also the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and after the Congress of Vienna became the capital of the (newly named, but geographically unchanged) Kingdom of Naples. Thus, Naples was the only city (besides Jerusalem) taking the same name as the Kingdom of which it was the capital. After a long period of decline following the forging of the Italian State over 100 years ago, the city is making great strides in recovering its eminence as a center for culture.