Aggressive dogs, first loves, poseurs, sunshine, mixed-race children, prying family members and modern transportation have all inspired the most iconic Neapolitan songs. Songs that are now famous the world over. So famous they are often the ubiquitously forgotten soundtracks of our busy lives. You have likely heard Neapolitan music in commercials for children’s board games, on elevators and on call center recordings.

From the Baroque compositions of Alessandro Scarlatti to the crescendos of ‘O Sole Mio, the musical traditions of Naples run deep. The Kingdom of Two Sicilies, which governed the South of Italy until 1860 attracted musicians and artists from across the Mediterranean, Africa and the Far East. These influences converged to create the uniquely rousing rhythms of Neapolitan Folkloric music.

This street music, which is largely without author and passed from generation to generation, still dominates the Centro Storico of Naples today. Late at night, you may wander across a dark vicoletto to discover a spontaneous eruption of sound. Tambourines, castanets and tarantella dancers enjoy the sudden convulsions of a Tammurriata. If you stumble upon one of these raucous tambourine circles, I highly suggest you join. You will anonymously whirl like a dervish under the gaze of Saint Dominic, perched atop his obelisk.

Neapolitan Folkloric traditions would later influence the development of a lively 1950s brand of music popularized by Renato Carasone, Domenico Modugno and Mario Merola. Hits including Tu vou’ fa l’americano and Volare would be covered by Dean Martin, Elvis and Perry Como.

Jazz would also find a welcome audience in Naples. The beloved singer-song writer, Pino Daniele would blend Neapolitan folkloric beats with American Blues to create an entirely new sound. So much of his work is an embodiment of Naples—scenic, tattered and shattered. A beautiful ruin, worthy of its own sound.

These days Neapolitan rap has emerged as the modern incarnation of the bestial beats of folkloric street music. The brash staccato of Neapolitan dialect and its stark poetry redefine the chanting rhymes of American rap music. Both born in the inner city and obsessed with percussive syncopation, Neapolitan rap transforms the old world beats of the tambourine.

The music of Naples, like its food and its peoples, is now part of a wider diaspora. Evolving and transforming as it encounters new countries and cultures in the New World, the music of Naples is our unlikely ambassador in the odd times of a global pandemic. But the beats remain much the same. Vibrant, rousing intense crescendoes inspired by the daily banalities of life in Naples, under the shadow of Vesuvius.

While you wait to book your next flight, listen to our Neapolitan play list, make spaghetti and clams and pour yourself a glass of falanghina. It is almost (but not quite) the same as being here!