In the 18th century, at the height of the Baroque period, Naples, one of Italy’s most beautiful cities, was known as the città delle cinquecento cupole, “the city with five hundred cupolas,” because of the number of churches one could admire in its historical center.

Indeed, the Campania capital counts about one thousand churches and religious buildings on its territory, more than the holy city by definition, Rome, which has “only” nine hundred. Not a huge difference, sure, but you know we Italians are keen on campanilismo, the habit of idolizing our own town to the point of excess, so you can bet Neapolitans are pretty proud of their city’s superiority in this field!