On Italy's southern Mediterranean seaboard, with Lazio and Rome, Molise and Abruzzo to the north, Puglia and Basilicata to the east and Calabria to the south, Campania region is the beginning of the 'mezzogiorno'. Translating as the 'midday' the phrase evokes the sunbaked south. And Campania - with its ancient Greek and Roman towns, rumbling volcanoes and glittering blue coastline, at times evokes Classical Greece as much as modern Italy. You could be a million miles from bureaucratic and businesslike Milan.
The region (in Latin, Campania simply meant 'countryside') is divided into the five provinces of Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Naples and Salerno. In antiquity it was part of Magna Graecia, the Greek colonies in southern Italy. Main towns are Naples, Amalfi, Agropoli, Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Gallo Matese, Maiori, Massa Lubrense, Positano, Praiano, Salerno and Sorrento.
Attractions include the Cave of the Sibyl at Cumae. The Roman archeological sites at Pompeii (Pompei) and Herculaneum (Ercolaneo). There is the volcano of Mount Vesuvius, the Greek temples at Paestum, the Amalfi Coast and, offshore, the islands of Capri and Ischia in the Bay of Naples.
The air of southern calm induspitably disappears in Naples - the biggest city in southern Italy and a frenetic, noisy, though utterly irrestistible town, where life is lived on the street. Traffic is chaotic, the city is crime ridden and in parts filthy. But this mix of fundamental and very expressive Catholicism and Arab Souk creates a city like no other. Buy your lunch on the go from one of the many street vendors selling tranches of pizza (invented in Napoli), courgette flowers in batter and doughballs. Witness (if you're very lucky and a non-sceptic) the liquefaction of the blood of San Gennaro in the cathedral. Check out some superb churches, galleries and museums, the buzzing dock area. And keep your wallet in an inside pocket.
West of the city we have Vesuvius at the heart of the Campi Flegrei, the 'fiery fields' or Plegrean Fields of Greek myth. Both Homer and Virgil identified the fields as the entrance to Hades, though it was also immortalised for its beauty as the Elysian Fields. A trip up Vesuvius is a must, with the currently dormant volcano emitting the occasional burst of lava and steam to remind visitors of its destructive power. The main town here is Pozzuoli, home to a young Sophia Loren and with Roman remains including the Antifeatro Flavio. Along the coast, you reach the port town of Baia and then Lake Averno, where Agrippa built his military harbour in 37BC.
South east from Naples you come to the archeological sites at Herculaneum and Pompeii and thence the Sorrentine Peninsula and then Sorrento itself. A jolly seaside town, this was something of a magnet for gloomy northern European artists seeking the inspiration of the southern sun. Ibsen, Wagner, Gorky and Nietzsche all came to Sorrento to work.
The southern side of the peninsula is the Amalfi Coast - claimed by many to be the most beautiful stretch of coastline in Europe, and we're not going to argue too much with that. Lemon groves slope steep down to the ocean, and little coloured terraced houses look onto a stunning blue sea. There are some lovely towns here including Positano, Amalfi, Ravello and thence to Salerno. The local liqueur of choice is limoncello, pressed from the ubiquitous citrus fruit.
Floating offshore we have Capri, a fashionable bolthole from the mainland since Roman times, with Tiberius moving his office here. It was rediscovered by northern Europeans from the 19th century, with visitors and settlers including DH Lawrence, George Bernard Shaw, Graham Greene, Gracie Fields and even Lenin. Sights include the Blue Grotto and the Villa Jovis.
Neighbouring Ischia is stunning, the rock soaring from the blue Mediterranean. It was home to composer William Walton and his wife, who laid out the superb gardens at La Mortella. Ischia has a thermal spa resort in Casamicciola Terme.
North of Naples lies the Camorra heartland of Caserta and Capua - charmingly dubbed 'the triangle of death' for its organised crime links. Travel on to check out the old Roman town of Benevento. South of the city meanwhile, we have the Cilento coast, with the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park - the second biggest in Italy and a protected UNESCO World Heritage Sight. This is also the site of Paestum, one of the world's best preserved Ancient Greek settlements, with many temples and houses, ruins and walls uncovered, and many still to be.
North of Naples lies the Camorra heartland of Caserta and Capua - charmingly dubbed 'the triangle of death' for its organised crime links. Travel on to check out the old Roman town of Benevento. South of the city meanwhile, we have the Cilento coast, with the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park - the second biggest in Italy and a protected UNESCO World Heritage Sight. This is also the site of Paestum, one of the world's best preserved Ancient Greek settlements, with many temples and houses, ruins and walls uncovered, and many still to be.
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