Six Degrees of Separation from Naples

The Tavola Strozzi, depicting a panoramic view of medieval Naples,
 attributed to Francesco Rosselli (c. 1472-1473)

My affection for Naples has become a running joke among my non-Neapolitan friends. They tease me by exaggerating my enthusiasm to the point of absurdity and mockingly attributing Neapolitan origins or influence to the most unlikely things—snow cones, shoehorns, roller coasters, and anything else at hand. My response is always the same: give me enough time, and I will find the connection. Especially if the object in question is something I deem worthy of serious consideration.

What began as a joke gradually revealed itself as something closer to a principle. Early in my studies, I realized how often Naples appeared at decisive moments in the history of the West. Philosophical schools, legal traditions, religious developments, musical forms, political experiments, scientific inquiry, culinary traditions, and aesthetic sensibilities all seemed, sooner or later, to pass through the city or to be shaped by those who lived there, ruled it, or were educated within its orbit. Naples didn't just receive history; it absorbed, transformed, and redistributed it.

In my mind, the city functions less like a provincial capital and more like a nexus. Greek foundations, Roman administration, Byzantine continuity, Norman ambition, imperial governance, and Spanish grandeur layered themselves on top of one another without ever fully erasing what came before. The result was not chaos, but depth—a concentration of ideas, disciplines, and forms that radiated outward across centuries. To study Naples is to study how culture moves, develops, and endures.

Consider law. Naples maintained a continuous tradition of classical legal education long after it had faded elsewhere. This tradition passed through Byzantine administration, was reorganized under Norman rule, and achieved full institutional form under the Hohenstaufen emperors. The University of Naples—founded by Frederick II explicitly to train imperial administrators—became the first state university in Europe, producing jurists whose education shaped legal practice across the Kingdom and beyond.

This is why the “six degrees” joke persists. With enough patience, the connections do emerge. What at first appears fanciful often turns out to be layered history waiting to be uncovered. The laughter wanes once the pattern becomes clear. Naples is a conduit, a crucible, and a bridge between antiquity and modernity. The city’s importance to Western civilization is not a matter of oikophilia or romantic attachment, but of fundamental significance. Naples is everywhere because, in a very real sense, it has long been an indispensable place through which ideas and cultures have historically passed.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, February 3rd, Feasts of San Biagio and St. Werburga of Mercia