“That building is still home to families who’ve lived there for generations … but many of them don’t have the tools — financial or cultural — to fight situations like this,” he said. “Four floors, two apartments per floor, all the apartments on my side — first, second, and fourth floors — have been converted into short-term rentals, bed and breakfasts, or student housing.”
“So gradually, one by one, long-term residents have been pushed out to make room for tourists and temporary renters.”
“I once heard about an elderly Neapolitan woman who lived in the city center and couldn’t get home because the streets were too crowded,” said Gaia Portolano, who works at a tourist infopoint, explaining what it’s like to coexist with overtourism. “A tourist overheard her complaining and told her that she was the one living in the wrong place.”
The pressure on Naples’ housing is so intense that local urban planning discussions now revolve around investing in the eastern part of the city, Capretti said, which is full of neglected and abandoned areas. The idea is to “recover lost livability in the historic center by building it in the eastern zone” — supposedly by moving residents out of the city center to make room for tourists.
Supporters of the tourism boom argue that platforms like Airbnb can benefit small landlords.
However, in 2023 Avella noted that almost two-thirds of Airbnb hosts owned more than one property, and the top five hosts controlled roughly 500 listings. He suggested that means the largest landlords are companies, not people. And even when owners are individuals, they are often from wealthier cities like Rome or Milan, he added.