You wouldn’t be the first person to fall in love with Campania. This geographically stunning place has been magnetic for millennia. It was here, specifically from the island of Capri in the Bay of Naples, that Odysseus mythically heard the sirens singing to him. (Less mythically, the Bay of Naples lured exploratory Greeks of the 9th century BC to set up their first colonies in Italy.) To the ancient Romans, Campania was ‘the happy land’ (campania felix), and for holidays or retirement there was nowhere they prized more highly.
Glamorous, colourful and romantic, Campania has never waned in attraction since. When modern European tourism flickered into life, Campania was a chief target – mainly thanks to the 18th-century discovery of the buried ruins of Pompeii. “See Naples and die!” roared the young English gentlemen making the Grand Tour, convinced that until you had beheld the exotic glories of Campania you hadn’t truly lived.
Enthusiasm continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with artists and celebrities surrendering to Campania’s sensuous delights – the wind tousling their hair as they cruised the AmalfiDrive, the sun bronzing their limbs as they lazed on the rocks of Capri or Ischia. Today, Campania remains one of Italy’s most visited regions.