Looking further to the right still from the previous shot, we can see that the taller building to the right of the Vico Mattonelle (the one with the pink sheet hanging from the top floor) could also do with a little bit of TLC to remedy the weathered paintwork and breaking rendering. Not to mention a bit of updating to the electrical systems. Yet beyond that, far beyond that we can see some of the (relatively) tall, modern office buildings that are rising to the north of Napoli's central station a couple of kilometres away.

In reality those buildings are not that tall by the standards of some cities, including Sydney. There are only 10 buildings over 30 stories in Napoli, with the greatest number being 36. Whether that's out of lack of demand, or whether it's a building code necessitated by a nearby active volcano, I haven't been able to determine. Only a couple of the buildings are hotels (the Ambassador's Palace at 30 floors, and the Holiday Inn at 26 floors). I quite like staying in high-rise hotels in a city like Melbourne, but I have to admit that I much preferred the more historic low rise of our Palazzo Caracciolo in Napoli where it was possible to step out onto the small balcony and almost touch the vibrance of the city. Naples is a city that demands that sort of contact.