City in southern Italy. Founded by Greeks from Cumae (4th century B.C.), Naples endured the barbarian invasions, and in 1041 was besieged by the Normans, whose conquest resulted in the acquisition of Sicily (1087) and the rise of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies or the Kingdom of Naples. After the Sicilian Vespers (1282), the history of Naples is a story of wars for succession. Under Spanish rule from 1442, conquered by Austria in the War of the Spanish Succession, a French republic in 1799, and a kingdom under Joseph Bonaparte in 1806, it was finally annexed to Italy in 1861. Its famous churches, among which are the Gothic Cathedral of Saint Januarius, begun in 1272, which shelters the martyr's relics, the baroque church of Saint Philip Neri, the Church of Saint Clare and the Monastery of San Domenico Maggiore (1255), containing the cell of Saint Thomas Aquinas, are rich in art treasures, and the secular buildings, including the royal palace and the museum have interesting archmological collections. See also.
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