Mapping Airbnb and the rent extraction in Naples, Italy. An ongoing fight for affordable houses

Naples is the third largest city in Italy by size and population, the main one in the south. Among the other historical Italian cities such as Venice and Florence, Naples is the city that has experienced the touristification process more lately. Until the first decade of the 2000s, Naples played its role within tourist geographies mainly as bridge-city to the nearby islands. It was nothing similar to an international destination but from 2010 to 2020, after the privatization and financialization of the city airport’s management, the tourist arrivals increased by 107% together with the average overnight stays in the centre. The very tipping point has been registered in 2018 when the Airbnb listing exceeded the average of 7500. The number of accommodations in itself could seem not alarming when compared to other European cities, but we must point out some peculiar characteristics related to the context in order to describe the ongoing process of touristification.