Naples is a hectic city where everyone seems to be doing something and nothing all at once. Drivers zip through narrow streets at breakneck speeds only to stop suddenly to chat with neighbors or grab a pizza al forno to go. There are tourists, but unlike in Rome or Florence, visitors are definitely in the minority, which makes for a nice change of pace. If you accept the cheerful chaos of the city, its (slightly grimy) beauty and sense of community will surely win you over.

While it often ends up being a stopping point on the way to Pompeii or Herculaneum, Naples deserves to be explored. In some parts of town, you’ll find narrow streets decorated with graffiti alongside homemade shrines to the Virgin Mary. There are roads that suddenly lead to the shore of the Bay of Naples, while others climb uphill to beautiful vistas and ancient castles. It wasn’t for nothing that UNESCO recently deemed the historical city center a World Heritage Site. For millennia, Naples has been an outpost for the world’s greatest civilizations, so forgive its untidiness and petty crime: Europe owes a lot to this scrappy city.