Afragola

Afragola is a city in Metropolitan Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. The city has a population of 65,000 (2018) and is the 92nd most populated Italian city. Home to a lot of shops and ancient buildings, Afragola is one of the most incredible cities in Metropolitan Naples.

Understand
Afragola is one of the oldest cities of the area. The city hosts everything from a shopping centre to a stadium, where local teams usually play soccer matches.

From the ancient era to the Italian unification
The area where Afragola lies today was already settled by the Greeks when Naples was founded, together with the Samnites. The city was founded by Rodger II of Sicily in 1140, when the king assigned the land to his veterans. For centuries the territory was under the control of the various kingdoms and empires including the Kingdom of Naples, the Spanish Empire, the Austrian Empire and then it became part of the Italian kingdom in 1861.

20th and 21st centuries
Many fled to the north during the first decades of the 20th century to escape from poverty. The city was bombarded during the Second World War and then occupied by the Nazis. The allies freed Afragola in 1943, shortly after British and American troops freed Naples on 1 October 1943. In 1944, Afragola experienced the last eruption of the near Vesuvius to this day. Afragola experienced a huge population boom during the second post war period. In fact, the population grew from 10,000 in 1945 to 25,000 in 1974. The city was hit by the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, which caused a couple of victims and left some people wounded. In 2005, many remains belonging to a Bronze Age settlement buried by the 1944 Vesuvius eruption were found. In 2008 the population of the city experienced the effects of the Great Recession and many become poor. On 6 June 2017, a new train station, designed by the Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, was finally inaugurated.

Talk
Italian is by far the most spoken language in Afragola. Also spoken by the majority of the population is Neapolitan, a dialect of Italian which is notoriously known for being unintelligible to many Italian speakers. Neapolitan is composed of Spanish, French and Arabic words and in Afragola is usually spoken by the elders, as the young generation usually speaks either Italian or a mixture of Italian and Neapolitan.

Afragolese is the local dialect also spoken here. It's a variety of Neapolitan and it's even harder to understand as some words look completely different.

The most spoken foreign language is English. Unfortunately though, only the young generation can speak it at a decent level. The general knowledge of English in Afragola still remains far from excellent.

By plane
There are no airports in Afragola.

By boat
Afragola is landlocked so it has no ports.

By train
You can get in Afragola by train thanks to the new station that was inaugurated in 2017. Be sure to let someone take you to the hotel or to the city centre by car (especially if you're getting there at night), because the station is not in the city centre, but is basically in the middle of the countryside and you will have to walk a long distance before getting in the city centre. It is possible to get in Afragola from many Italian cities including Rome, Milan, Turin, Firenze, Salerno etc... A railway which will connect Afragola to other Swiss, French and German cities is planned to be built in the near future.

By car
It is easy to get in Afragola by car by Autostrada del Sole (A1).

By bus
It is possible to get in Afragola by bus from the neighboring cities of Casoria, Naples, Caserta, Pompeii, Salerno, Avellino, Benevento and many others.