Airlines Alitalia,
Via Medina 41-42 (tel
081.542.5333); British
Airways (tel 147.812.266;
Capodichino airport desk
tel 081.780.3087); TWA,
Via Cervantes 55 (tel
081.551.3063).
Books
English-language books
from Universal, Rione
Sirignano 1 (tel
081.663.217).
British Council
Library , via Morghen
31, Vomero (tel
081.558.5817, www.britishcouncil.it
). Features a limited
range of literature, some
reference books and a
video library.
Car rental Avis,
Via Piedigrotta 44 (tel
081.761.1365); Europcar,
Via Scarfoglio 10 (tel
081.570.8426); Hertz, Via
N. Sauro 21 (tel
081.764.5323); Maggiore,
Via Cervantes 92 (tel
081.552.1900). These
agents also have desks at
Stazione Centrale and at
the airport.
Consulates
Canada, Via Carducci 29 (tel
081.401.338); UK, Via
Francesco Crispi 122 (tel
081.663.511); USA, Piazza
della Repubblica (tel
081.583.8111).
Exchange Outside
normal banking hours you
can change money and
travellers' cheques at the
booth inside Stazione
Centrale (daily 7am-9pm).
Football The
Stadio di San Paolo in
Fuorigrotta is the home of
the Napoli side, who are
currently in Serie A. To
get to the ground, take
the Ferrovia Cumana from
Montesanto to Mostra and
the stadium is right in
front of you. Tickets,
available from the offices
facing you as you
approach, or from the
club's outlets in town,
cost around L30,000/15.49.
Funerals Death
is big business in Naples,
and you can still see the
incredibly ornate
traditional black hearses
pulled by teams of horses
on the streets of the city
- the preferred way to go
of Neapolitan fat cats and
higher-ranking Camorra
members. There are other,
equally bizarre Neapolitan
customs regarding death: a
white hearse, for example,
means a child or virgin
has died; and despite
official discouragement
there are reports of some
corpses being dug up by
their families after
burial, in a bizarre
celebration centring on
All Souls Day - November
2.
Hospital To call
an ambulance, dial
081.752.8282, 081.752.0696
or 081.752.0850, or go to
the Guardia Medica
Permanente in the Palazzo
Municipio, open 24hr.
Internet As well
as the cafés and bars
listed on p.834-5, try
Internet Globe, on Via
Carrozzieria (tel
081.551.0306).
Language courses
The Centro Italiano, Vico
S. Maria dell'Aiuto 17 (tel
081.552.4331, fax
081.552.3023), runs a
selection of courses on
Italian language and
culture, ranging from an
intensive two-week option
(L420,000/216.91) to a
more relaxed three-month
one (L780,000/402.84), as
well as specialist courses
on cookery, the
"Neapolitan
crib", and
archeology.
Lottery Along
with San Gennaro, the
lottery is a fanatically
observed institution in
Naples. Winning the
lottery is seen, in a way,
as the ultimate triumph
over the system, and
superstitions around it
are rife - to the extent
that there's even a book, La
Smorfia , which
interprets the meaning
behind each lottery
number. There are also
people, called assisti
(literally "guided
ones"), who claim to
have supernatural access
to knowledge of what the
winning numbers will be.
If you're keen to see the
lottery draw, it's made
every Saturday noon at the
Ufficio Lotto on Via San
Biagio dei Librai, to the
accompaniment of much
hysteria.
Markets The
Mercato dei Fiori (Flower
Market) at Castel Nuovo
kicks off every morning at
sunrise, while Pignasecca
on via Pignasecca is an
atmospheric daily market,
the stalls piled with
fresh fruit, vegetables
and seafood.
Pharmacies
Late-night pharmacies work
on a rotation system; tel
1100 for addresses of the
three nearest open
pharmacies from the point
you are calling from, or
look in Il Mattino
. There's also a pharmacy
at Napoli Centrale
(Mon-Sat 8am-8pm).
Police tel 112;
you can speak to an
operator in English. The
main police station is at
Via Medina 75 (tel
081.794.1111); you can
also report crimes at the
small police station in
Stazione Centrale. To
report theft of a car call
081.794.1436.
Post office The
main post office is in the
enormous building on
Piazza Matteotti, just off
Via Toledo (Mon-Sat
8.15am-7.20pm).
Telephones There
is a Telecom Italia office
at Napoli Centrale (open
24hr), though large queues
form early evening. The
office at Via Depretis 40
(also 24hr) is quieter.
Tours The Naples
tourist office run guided
bus tours of various parts
of the city every Sunday
morning beginning at
10.30am; details direct
from one of their offices.
Free guided excursions are
organized by the Chamber
of Commerce; ask at your
hotel or at a travel agent
for details and a voucher.
You can also experience
underground Naples on
tours run by LAES (Sat
& Sun 10am; tel
081.400.256), which leave
from Bar Gambrinus
on Piazza Trieste e Trento
and take you through
sewers and passageways
that date back as far as
4000 years. Napoli
Sotteranea run a similar
tour (Sat & Sun; tel
081.296.944); the meeting
point is Piazza San
Gaetano. In summer you can
also cruise Naples harbour
by boat at night;
departures are from
Mergellina harbour twice
each Saturday between
mid-July and the end of
August, three times on
Sunday; in September just
three times each Sunday
evening. Tickets are
available at the
embarkation point or from
the Piazza Gesù Nuovo
tourist office.
Travel agents
CTS, Via Mezzocannone 25 (tel
081.552.7960), for
discount tickets, budget
flights and so on. You
could also try Eurostudy,
Via Mezzocannone 119 (tel
081.552.0947).
