Naples

Is Naples safe?

For a visitor, mostly yes, but it asks more of you than Rome or Florence. The risk is not the Camorra, whose violence is aimed at rivals in outer districts; it is the scooter that brushes past and takes your phone. Naples province recorded 33 homicides in 2024, about 1.1 per 100,000 people (Eurostat), a fraction of what the city's reputation suggests.

Two things set Naples apart. Residents feel unsafe at night: only 44% told the EU's 2023 survey they feel safe walking alone after dark in their city. And the ground under the western districts is moving. We score Naples 68, below Rome (73), mainly because of theft, the roads and earthquakes.

Bag snatching, scooters and watches

Naples' classic crime is the scippo, a snatch theft, often by two people on a scooter. Phones held loosely at the kerb, shoulder bags on the street side and expensive watches are the targets. Robbery is more common than in Rome: 92 per 100,000 people in Naples province in 2024, against 71 in Rome's province (2023). Cars and scooters disappear too, with 817 vehicle thefts per 100,000, the highest rate of any Italian province in Eurostat's 2024 data.

Where to be careful:

• Piazza Garibaldi and the streets around Napoli Centrale, especially at night
• The Circumvesuviana trains to Pompeii and Sorrento, and crowded city buses
• Via Toledo and the edges of the Quartieri Spagnoli in crowds
• Spaccanapoli and Via dei Tribunali at peak hours

Carry a cross-body bag on the side away from the road, keep your phone in a front pocket when you are not using it, and leave the expensive watch at home. The UK FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary's warning about bag-snatching and pickpocketing in Italian city centres applies here more than anywhere.

The Camorra: how much does it matter?

The Camorra controls drug markets and extortion in parts of the city and its hinterland, and its feuds produce shootings. In February 2024, for example, there were three Camorra killings in ten days in the Naples area, after which 200 police and soldiers carried out a high-impact sweep. Young men are both shooters and victims.

For a visitor, the effect is indirect. The three killings in February 2024 happened in Torre Annunziata and Boscoreale, towns near Vesuvius, not in the historic centre or on the seafront. The homicide rateHomicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary for the whole province has stayed between 1.0 and 1.3 per 100,000 since 2021.

Campi Flegrei and Vesuvius

West of the centre, under Pozzuoli, Bagnoli and Fuorigrotta, lies the Campi Flegrei caldera. Since 2005 the ground has risen by more than 1.5 metres, a process called bradyseism, and the Civil Protection Department keeps the area on yellow alert. Quakes have grown stronger. INGV, the national geophysics institute, recorded magnitude 4.4 in May 2024, 4.6 in March 2025, 4.6 in June 2025 and 4.7 on 31 July 2026, the strongest so far. They are shallow, 2 to 4 km down, so they are felt strongly across the western half of the city.

The red zone, where a full evacuation would be ordered if the alert reached its highest level, covers Pozzuoli, Bacoli, Monte di Procida, Quarto and the Naples districts of Bagnoli, Fuorigrotta, Soccavo and Pianura, plus parts of Posillipo, Chiaia, the Vomero and other districts, and parts of Giugliano and Marano.

Vesuvius, east of the city, is on green alert: no unusual activity. Its national plan covers 25 towns in the red zone, including Ercolano, Torre del Greco and Pompei. Civil Protection uses IT-alert, a public warning system that sends alerts to mobile phones in the affected area.

If you feel a strong quake, move away from buildings into an open space and wait for instructions from the authorities.

Traffic, air and nights out

Crossing the road is a skill here. Campania had 261 road deaths in 2024, 4.7 per 100,000 people, and the province of Naples had the largest rise in Italy, 23 more than in 2023, according to ISTAT. Twenty-four pedestrians died in the province, more than anywhere except Rome. Cross with locals, make eye contact, and never assume a car or scooter will stop at a zebra crossing.

ISPRA lists the Naples–Caserta area among the places that still break the EU's daily limit for coarse particles, and some city stations break the nitrogen dioxide limit. Tap water is safe.

At night, stick to busy streets. In the 2023 EU survey 60% of residents felt safe in their own neighbourhood at night, a better figure than for the city as a whole. Late at night, take a licensed taxi rather than walking through empty streets around the station.

For the rest of the country, see our Italy page.

How we scored it

Violent crime (84) is Naples' strongest factor: about 1.1 homicides per 100,000Homicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary, with points off for Camorra shootings and a high robbery rate. Theft (55) and walking at night (59) are weak, the second based on the EU's 2023 resident survey, which we use for every European city. Natural hazards (58) reflect the Campi Flegrei quakes and Vesuvius, and traffic safety (66) the rising death toll on Campania's roads.