Naples Travel Guide

Entertainment in Naples

When talking about Naples, the subject of entertainment is bound to come up as all the main attractions of the city have the joyous, carefree spirit of a people who are traditionally devoted to music, singing and dancing. Nonetheless, as often happens, reality is very different, however, the great cultural and creative legacy of the city has produced art and shows of international appeal, since ancient times. One example of this is the Neapolitan song tradition which still charms the world.

Theatres The Neapolitan theatrical tradition is extremely rich. Various families of actor-writers such as the Scarpetta, Di Maggio, De Filippo and Giuffrè families have give life to a great variety of farces and plays which are still performed in various theatres around the city.

Teatro Bellini, was opened as a lyric theatre in 1864 and is now the most beautiful theatre in Naples. It is located at 17, Via Conte di Ruvo, near Piazza Dante, and offers an international programme. Not far from here, in two streets which cut across Via Toledo are two, small theatres which offer playes for a young, cultured audience. Trendy shows are performed here, written in search of new, expressive languages. Galleria Toledo is in Via Concezione at 36, Monteoliveto, and the Teatro Nuovo is in 16, Via Montecalvario. Teatro Nuovo has two rooms. The smaller is called Sala Assoli, and is little more than a basement, where historic performances have taken place. The two theatres also show important, cinematic programmes. Another large theatre in the city is Teatro Augusteo Napoli, built at the beginning of the twentieth century in Piazzetta Duca d'Aosta not far from the central Via Toledo. The theatre is now the important home of musical and light theatre and musicals, review shows and singing recitals are put on here.

In Piazza Municipio, another historic, Neapolitan theatre was opened in 1995 after a long closure. The Mercadante was opened in the second half of the eighteenth century and hosted the great, opera of the time. It is now the great prose theatre of the city.

In 157, Via Chiaia is perhaps the best loved of the Neapolitan theatres; the Sannazzaro. Popular theatre is performed here, linked to the dialect tradition and it has hosted the most important, loved and venerated Neapolitan actors, including De Filippo, Nino Taranto, Pietro de Vico and Luisa Conte. The comic theatre of great historic writers of nineteenth century theatre is the Politeama in Via Monte di Dio. Not far from here the Teatro Bracco offers a programme which is mostly based on dialect, comic theatre.

The Vomero, the hilly district of the city, is home to another, imortant theatre in Naples. The Teatro Diana, at 69, Via Luca Giordano 69 is where great, Italian prose is performed as well as a variety of other plays. In the same area the Teatro Cilea has a good, theatrical school and offers works by local, contemporary writers. Other theatres to remember are the Teatro Tenda Partenope in Via Barbagallo, near the Palazzetto dello Sport, where jazz and rock concerts take place and the Cinema Teatro la Perla Napoli at 35, Via Nuova Agnano, the Teatro Leopardi, an experimental theatre in the street of the same name and the Teatrino di Edenlandia in Viale Kennedy which offers an interesting programme of children's theatre.

There are also a number of smaller places that offer interesting shows, cabaret and true discoveries such as the Sancarluccio at 49, Via San Pasquale, Al Bruttini in Via Port alba, Teatro Totò in Via Frediano Cavara, Tunnel Cabaret at 16, Via Santa Chiara, Spazio Libero in Via Parco Margherita and La Riggiola in Piazza S.Luigi.

The great, Teatro San Carlo in the street of the same name, is another matter. It is adjacent to Piazza Trieste, and is one of the main monuments of the city and one of the most important lyric theatres in the world, second only to the Scala in Milan, although it is larger and has impeccable acoustics. This temple of music, has hosted the world premieres of many operas, in the course of over two hundred years and now offers a first rate programme.

Cinema The crisis of cinema in the 1980's forced many cinemas to close. Only the largest have survived here and now that the crisis is partly over, many new cinemas have emerged with avant-garde technology and in many cases modern multi-screens.

In the city centre are traditional cinemas such as the Fiorentini at 5, Via Bracco, Santa Lucia at 59, Via Santa Lucia, the Roxy and the Modernissimo that has four screens and is near Piazza Dante. Near the university is the Academy Astra at 109, Via Mezzocannone and the Adriano at 12, Via Monteoliveto. These are average size, and can each hold about 500 people and have large screens. Near the Central Station at 60, Corso Meridionale is the Corso Cinema and there are two, rather small cinemas, one of which is the Agorà in the city centre and the other is the Pierrot in Via De Meis.

Chiaia, the most elegant area of the city, offers a number of good cinemas including the Cinema Delle Palme at 12, Via Vetriera which has two, new screens and around a thousand seats. In the same area is the Cinema Alcione at 3, Via Lomonaco not far from the Filangieri, the Arlecchino and the Fiamma which all offer comfortable, medium sized halls.

In the Mergellina district is the President at 19, Via T.Campanella, the Empire at 20, Via F.Giordani, the Cinema Ambasciatori at 33, Via Crispi and the Amedeo at 69, Via Martucci. These are all cinemas which show new releases and seat more than three hundred. Towards Posillipo, is the Posillipo which is very popular with young people as it is cheap and has good programmes. . The Vomero district offers a good choice of quality cinemas, including the two multiscreens, Arcobaleno, with three screens at 7, Via Carelli and the Plaza, at 85, Via Kerbaker which has two screens. Other cinemas in the area include the Vittoria at 8, Via Piscicelli, the Abadir at 35, Via Paisiello and the Acacia at 10, Via Tarantino which all have large capacities and avant-garde technology. Most of the cinemas in Fuorigrotta have closed down and the old buildings now house banks or large shops. There are only two cinemas in the area which are both multi screens. There is the renovated Cinema Teatro la Perla Napoli at 36, Via Nuova Agnano and the new Cinema Duel Multicinema in Via Scarfoglio.

In the outskirts of the city, in the Chiaiano district is the Felix which has three, small screens which have good quality. In Via San Michele in Ponticelli is the Maestoso which can hold up to eight hundred people.

Many of the alternative or independent cinemas in the city have been turned into x-rated cinemas. Amongst the survivors are the Galleria Toledo and the Nuovo which show art films.

Naples by night In the last twenty years the city has seen a proliferation of bars, pubs, sandwich bars, spaghetti houses and other locals which are full of young people from night until early in the morning.

The rich, musical panorama of the city has contributed to the birth of many of these places as well as discos which offer live music such as the Vibes Cafè at 26, Largo S.Giovanni Maggiore, the Otto jazz Club near Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the Sanakura at 5, Via Pallonetto Santa Chiara.

Amongst the most popular discos are the Blues e Blues in Via Michetti, Vertego in Via Caccavello and the Twenty Three in Via Mancini, as well as the B.Out, Zeppelin Club, and the Dry Dock in Via Cinthia both of which are in Fuorigrotta. There is also the Casablanca in Via Petrarca, Chez Moi in Via Parco Margherita, My way near Piazza dei Martiri and the mythical La Mela in Via dei Mille. There are also many disco pubs such as La Bavarese in Via Astroni, Dug Out in Mergellina. There are many trendy pubs which attract the night owls in Naples such as the Livingston .2008-08-02T07:29:22.000 42