Where to begin...
Francesca as a host: incredible, attentive, flexible, helpful and fun.
The apartment: perfect, clean, has the Napoli vibe, immediately immerses you.
The location: great. Two winding blocks from Via dei Mille, which has some extremely upscale shopping and some nice caffes. There are great restaurants around, and Francesca knows everyone in the neighborhood, so she'll call and book a table for you. The best ones fill up, so ask her a few days early and she will make life easy on you. You may even get the best table in the place.
The city: intoxicating.
Chiaia as a neighborhood is a great HQ. It's not quite as gritty as Napoli-on-the-whole, but that may be necessary if you're not from a major city. It's clean, has amazing shopping, is vibrant, close to the water, walkable and more. We fell in love immediately.
A few notes: if you're coming to Napoli by car, let her know ahead and she will book a garage for you. I drove for the first day in the city (in a small SUV) and it was the most (harrowing) fun I had driving on our whole three week trip, but you most likely can't (and don't want to) hack it as a full time driver in Napoli. Take cabs and transit, or walk. The driving is the most hectic (and again, fun) I've ever done outside of Mumbai. Also, when arriving, park on the street before Salita Santa Maria Apparente. Don't try to turn down the street. I did, and I succeeding in backing out, but I didn't try again on the way out, if you get my drift. It's a tight dead-end alley, and unless you're in a Fiat, it's a major squeeze.
Francesca made this stay amazing. She was beyond accommodating. When our friends arrived and their hotel was subpar, Francesca let us add them to our reservation last minute and they stayed for two nights. We even ended up having nightcaps in Francesca's apartment until 1AM laughing and sharing stories. You can't get this experience or this level of attention at a hotel. And the price was nice. God, I wanna go back right now. Thank you Francesca!