This volume contains essays on the political and cultural importance of Naples in the eighteenth century.This volume of essays offers a series of new insights into the 'age of the Enlightenment', not only in Italy but throughout Europe. In its political reforms, intended to attack feudalism and the Church and to modernise the economic and judicial systems, Naples was influenced by European culture. But Naples also exercised a strong influence upon European culture: the discovery of Pompeii and Herculanum, and the musical culture of the city, had great importance in shaping the modern, enlightened culture of Europe.This volume of essays offers a series of new insights into the 'age of the Enlightenment', not only in Italy but throughout Europe. In its political reforms, intended to attack feudalism and the Church and to modernise the economic and judicial systems, Naples was influenced by European culture. But Naples also exercised a strong influence upon European culture: the discovery of Pompeii and Herculanum, and the musical culture of the city, had great importance in shaping the modern, enlightened culture of Europe.This volume of essays offers a series of new insights into the age of the Enlightenment, not only in Italy but throughout Europe. In its political reforms, intended to attack feudalism and the Church and to modernize the economic and judicial systems, Naples was influenced by European culture. But Naples also exercised a strong influence on European culture: the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the musical culture of the city, had great importance in shaping the modern, enlightened culture of Europe.List of abbreviations; Introduction Girolamo Imbruglia; 1. The capital and the provinces Maria Grazia Maiorini; 2. The court: power relations and forms of social life Giovanni Montroni; 3. The arrogance of the market: the economy of the kingdom between the Mediterranean and Europe Biagio Salvemini; 4. Enlightenment in eighteenth-century Napleslă§