Naples is where the pizza was invented, and is the third largest
city in Italy with a population of 1.2 million citizens. Naples is rich in Italian
customs and culture and you will find many with a violin playing popular Italian
music. Naples also has one of the most amazing museums in Europe it is the Museo
Archeologico Nazionale it has various types of artifacts from nearby Pompeii,
in the early times Pompeii was bombarded by a volcano which covered the whole
city in lava. After hundreds of years the area was excavated with many things
still in tact. Naples is a major seaport and is the central focal point of commerce,
producing textiles, fine glassware and great wines. Here are some quick facts
about Naples:
King Richard’s Medieval Family Fun Park
King Richard's, debuting in 1996, started with the idea of providing area residents
and visitors with a place for go-cart, bumper boat and batting cage fun. Now family-oriented
King Richard’s has the area’s only permanent roller coaster, plus
a water play area called Merlin's Moat, and a dozen more rides for all ages. 6780
North Airport Road. (239) 598-2042
Teddy Bear Museum of Naples
Amid a stand of pine trees lies Naples’ mecca for teddy bears, from one-inch
tall to bigger than life, in mediums from fabric to crystal, wood, marble, and
bronze. This purpose-built museum shelters some 5,000 teddy bears with 45 displays
including a teddy bear wedding. Frances Pew Hayes, museum founder, has seven children,
19 grandchildren, and at last count, six great grandkids. The family draws names
for yule gift giving, and in 1984, a grandson drawing her name asked what she
wanted. Mrs. Hayes replied she was running out of rubber bands and paperclips,
and he could give her those. When the boy pressed further, she asked for a teddy
bear. From this one snuggly M&M bear presented by a five-year-old to his grandmother,
a collection was born, and Mrs. Hayes became a true arctophile, or teddy bear
collector. Soon came bearaphernilia and notions of a museum. In December, 1990
"Frannie" donated 1,500 bears, and doors opened for this not-for-profit
public corporation now drawing 50,000-plus visitors per year. The Li-Beary has
more than 800 teddy bear books, dating to when the Washington Post published “Drawing
the Line,” a cartoon depicting President Theodore Roosevelt declining to
shoot a defenseless bear tied to a tree. A Russian immigrant couple saw the cartoon
and gained permission from T.R. to call their hand-made bears Teddy’s Bears.
Profits from their sales evolved into the Ideal Toy Co., and the rest is teddy
bear history.
2511 Pine Ridge Road, Naples. (239) 598-2711
The Solfatara Volcano
This incredible volcano was created over 4000 years ago, and still exhibits
exciting volcanic steam. If you look in the crater you will notice an interesting
phenomenon such as streams of sulfurous steam leaking out.