Real estate in Campania

Campania offers enticing prospects to those looking at property in Italy. The real beginnings of the south of the country, or the Mezzogiorno, Campania is home to the living city of Naples and the dead Roman ones of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It has the stunning Amalfi coast, the impossibly romantic Isle of Capri, great communications and beautiful national parks. Real estate in Campania means a diversity of choice and price, and some of Italy’s loveliest countryside and seascapes.

As you move south in Italy the weather gets hotter, and so does the blood it seems. Campania and Naples are somehow more Italian than much of Italy. Naples was the home town of Sophia Loren and she seemed to embody the vibrant sensuality, carelessness and irreverence of the region. It’s also a region staggeringly rich in cultural and historical weight. Once part of Magna Graecia, this corner of Italy bears the tidemarks of successive invasions and cultures that have washed over the south-western coast of Italy. Italian property for sale in Campania sits in one of the most diverse, exciting, beautiful, chaotic and fascinating parts of this fascinating country.

Property for sale in Naples

Anyone looking for property for sale in Naples is buying into one of the most exciting, vibrant, chaotic and noisy cities on Earth. It’s not for everyone of course, and if you’re new to the city we suggest you break yourself in gently. Driving for instance. Those buying a home in Naples might be advised to travel by public transport before taking to the wheel and taking their life in their hands. Travelling from Milan to Naples you might feel you’re in another country and in a sense you are. The divisions within Italy, which express themselves in a strong adherence to city or region first, and the country of Italy a long way second are nowhere so pronounced as in Naples. Buy real estate in Naples and you are buying in the capital of the south, and a city with a healthy disregard of Rome and especially of the North.

It’s irreverent and often lawless. That can take the humorous shape of Neapolitans wearing T-shirts with a diagonal black stripe in an attempt to evade the seat-belt laws; less amusingly it has led to a grip by organised crime on the city — the Camorra has been a long-standing and bloody presence. The flipside is a city of enormous life and brio. Buying real estate in Naples puts you in a city of enormous historical wealth. Founded by the Greeks on the ancient settlement of Parthenope, Neapolis (new city) was born in 750BC. The sprawling city has a much cleaned up port area … the fresh seafood here has to be tasted to be believed.

Campania property — where to buy and how much to pay

Though a predominantly rural region — once you dig into the hinterland from Naples, Sorrento and Ravello, you find quite a poor and untouched stretch of countryside — Campania is also Italy’s most populus. There are huge advantages to this for anyone looking to buy real estate in Campania. Firstly there is a huge choice of Campania property for sale: there are the developed, bustling coastal towns and cities, or there are inland farms and abandoned villages. There is Campania property to fit every pocket, yet all within easy reach of a good highway network and the international airport at Naples.

Anyone looking to buy property in Italy and let it out as Italian holiday accommodation could do far worse than buy real estate in Campania too. The reasons? Nowhere else in southern Italy can compete with Campania for the number of foreign and Italian visitors — the attractions are obvious with Naples, the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius, Herculaneum and Pompeii, a host of protected national parks, and the lovely isles of Capri, Ischia and Procida, shoehorned into such a small area.

If you're planning to scout out some properties in the area, you may want to visit ahotelinitaly.com; they feature an enormous range of hotels across Italy, and all offer instant online booking. There is a full integration with Google Maps, so you'll be well placed to identify local hotels.

Campania real estate — airports and communications

You’re unlikely to find much in the way of property bargains in Naples, Capri or Ravello. These are mature and popular areas, where property is likely to start from €3000 per square metre. That doesn’t mean there isn’t value though. Buy a property in the Amalfi coast, in towns such as Positano, Praiano or Amalfi itself and you are buying in resorts popular for generations and with good reason. They look down onto blue seas, are prettily poised among the dramatic and rocky cliffs of the coast, and have easy access to good restaurants and good communications.

More value can be had by looking at the port of Salerno and the villages of the coast to the south, clustered around the Gulf of Salerno. Salerno itself has a pleasant old medieval centre, a duomo, museums and winding streets. Head further down to the Cilento Coast, thickly wooded with chestnuts and olives, remote in feel and yet with easy access to the A3 coastal highway which runs up to Naples and thence joins the A1 north. Abandoned farmhouses and village homes in this part of Campania can start at around &€1000 per square metre.

So you're coming to Campania - what about hotels?

If you are planning a visit, you're almost bound to end up staying in at least one local hotel. The links below should help narrow down your search for Campania hotels:

Amalfi hotels / Capri hotels / Ischia hotels / Naples hotels / Pompei hotels / Pozzuoli hotels / Praiano hotels / Sant' Agnello hotels / Sorrento hotels

Property for sale in Campania — food and drink

The pizza originated in Naples, though this is one place you won’t find the ubiquitous Pizza Napoletana. Just like Spaghetti Bolognese, this is an invention by Italians abroad. The keynote pizza is in fact the marinara, nothing to do with seafood, just a crisp disc of dough topped with garlic, tomato and basil. This is fantastic eaten hot from the street ovens that abound in Napoli. In fact street food is the key here. Buy a property in Naples and you won’t be eating at home, rather popping outside your Naples apartment for a calzone (stuffed, fried pizza with vegetables and ham), krocche (potato croquettes), fiorilli (fried courgette flowers) or arancini (rice balls).

The best buffalo mozzarella is produced in the Campania countryside. Spaghetti is the pasta of choice, with vongole (clams), squid, octopus and hot pepper sauce. There are superb pastries and some very good white wines, including Biancolella, Greco di Tufo and Fiano di Avellino. While you’re looking for Campania real estate you won’t go hungry.