Naples

Province of southern Italy in western Campania region; capital Naples; area 1,171 sq km/452 sq mi; population (2000 est) 3,099,400.

Naples

City in Collier County, southwestern Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico; population (2000) 21,000. It is located 56 km/35 mi south of Fort Myers, at the western end of the Tamiami Trail and Alligator Alley.

Naples was developed as a resort from the 1880s, and was for a long time accessible only by boat from Fort Myers; its 300 m/1000 ft-long fishing pier dates from that era. The city is now becoming an increasingly fashionable winter resort, renowned for its miles of beaches and its elegant Fifth Avenue shopping district. Commercial shrimping and fishing and the packing and transportation of vegetables are important economic activities here. Naples is situated an area rich in flora and fauna, with Rookery Bay (including the Briggs Nature Center) lying 8 km/5 mi to the south, Collier Seminole State Park 24 km/15 mi to the southeast, and the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary 32 km/20 mi to the northeast. The community of East Naples (population 23,000) has been the site of much recent residential development.