Quartieri Spagnoli

Quartieri Spagnoli ("Spanish Quarters") is a part of the city of Naples in Italy. It is a poor area, more so than the city overall, which is suffering from high unemployment. Quartieri Spagnoli is an area where the Camorra has influence. The area consists of a grid of around eighteen streets by twelve. It has a population of 80,000 people per square kilometre. By way of comparison, London, at its most densely populated, has 10,000 people per square kilometre.

The area has among the highest rates of respiratory diseases, unemployment and youth crime in Europe. The housing in the Quartieri Spagnoli consists mainly of palazzi — palazzo (singular) is Italian for palace — although these are more like tenements, usually six storied blocks with a roof terrace and a central courtyard. The width of the average street is about twelve feet. The area was built to house the Spanish troops to guard the city when they invaded in 1503.

The Neapolitan language is stronger here than anywhere else, mixing Italian, Spanish, Greek and Arabic.