The city

Naples has its roots in myth and history. Founded by the Greeks around the 8th century BC, it was born under the sign of a female figure: Parthenope, the mythical siren. According to legend, Parthenope fell in love with Ulysses and, when rejected, threw herself into the sea. The waves carried her body to the Gulf, where fishermen found it and gave her a burial. The first nucleus of the city developed around her name, which in classical times became Neapolis, the “new city”, capable of uniting Greek and Roman culture and transforming itself into a veritable crossroads of knowledge, languages and cultures. During these centuries, the city's deep and layered identity was born: a place where the sacred and the profane, history and legend, memory and imagination have always coexisted. It is precisely in this millennial history that the extraordinary female figures that make Naples unique emerge. From legend to historical document, women have played a central role in the construction of the Neapolitan identity. Some really existed, others live on in myth and popular tradition, but all embody strength, intelligence, resilience and mystery. Mermaids, queens, saints, painters, healers, witches and rebels: Naples is full of their traces — in its alleys, names, rituals and images. The Parthenope project was created to bring these figures back into the spotlight, restoring them to their rightful place as protagonists of a narrative that is too often forgotten but deeply alive. From the siren who gave the city its name to the women who chose it as their home, to the creatures that populate its legends: Naples continues to tell its story through women, between myth and truth.