Attractions

Piazza del Plebiscito
Castel Nuovo (New Castle) or Maschio Angioino
Royal Palace
San Carlo Theatre
Port of Santa Lucia
Villa Floridiana
Castel dell'Ovo
Posillipo
Santa Chiara
Piazza del Gesu Nuovo
Duomo (Cathedral)
The Royal Palace of Capodimonte


With charismatic narrow streets overhung with endless rows of washing, ancient churches, a medieval university, noisy street markets and hundreds of cafes, bars and restaurants, Naples is an unforgettable experience. The most central part of the city's monumental area is delimited by piazza del Municipio, piazza del Plebiscito and by the lively via Thiedo, the axis along which the fifteenth century city developed. Stroll in the Via Floridiana,
the lush public park spilling down from the Vomero to Mergelina,
or head for the many restaurants around Spaccanapoli and Stazione Centrale and the area around Piazza Amedeo.


The pizza was invented in Naples in the 18th century - make sure you sample some and other delicious Neapolitan treats such as calzone and misto di frittura.





Piazza del Plebiscito

The monumental, imposing Piazza del Plebiscito can be said to be the symbol of Naples. As you walk in the silence and beauty of this place you will discover another fascinating and magical side of Naples, far from the noise and smog of the city. The impressive semi-circular colonnade of San Francesco di Paola and the facade of Palazzo Reale are really spectacular. Built in imitation of the Pantheon, the church is like a pagan temple with its Ionic columns, side pillars and triangular tympanum. Always under the constant assault of photographers, the Piazza is an enormous, airy space, a complete contrast to the noisy alleyways and streets immediately behind it, where the sun barely filters through. The square is also a favorite background for newly-weds who pose for their traditional wedding photographs.


Back to Top^

Castel Nuovo (New Castle)
or Maschio Angioino

The impressive and majestic structure of Castel Nuovo or Maschio Angioino is located in the splendid and evocative Piazza Municipio (City Hall). Built by order of Carlo d'Angio, the castle was named "new" to distinguish it from Castel dell'Ovo and Castel Capuano, and was called Maschio Angioino after its founder. It was totally reconstructed under Alfonso of Aragon in the fifteenth century, by Tuscan and Catalan artists. The building, in the form of a trapezoid, is reinforced at the corners by imposing cylindrical towers with battle-works. The Triumphal Arch in front of the entrance, built in 1443 to commemorate the arrival in Naples of Alfonso I of Aragon, is formed by two superimposed arches, surmounted by ornate spaces and flanked by double columns. The monumental triumphal relief of Alfonso I and the statues of the four cardinal virtues are particularly noteworthy. Under the lower arch is a doorway leading into the vestibule and then into the courtyard, surmounted by a relief of the Coronation of Ferdinand I. In the courtyard one finds the Room of the Barons, the Palatine Chapel and the Apartment of the Viceroys.
Castel Nuovo was the political and cultural hub of Naples; you must cross a door and a draw-bridge to enter it. The castle preserves remarkable historical and artistic works and is home to the Civic Museum and its important paintings.


Royal Palace

D. Fontana built the Royal Palace at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It stands alongside the Piazza del Plebiscito, one of the most harmonious and monumental piazzas of Naples. The palace was enlarged in the second half of the eighteenth century and restored in the nineteenth century. Residence of the Bourbons and occasionally of Italian kings, it is the present headquarters of the National Library. It presents an imposing facade with its ground-level doorway and arches and, below, niches containing statues of figures who played important roles during the Kingdom of Naples. Within the internal courtyard is the entrance to the historical apartment. In the atrium one finds the fifteenth-century bronze doorway of G. Monaco, divided into six reliefs celebrating the victory of Ferdinand I over Giovanni of Anjou. To the right of the grand stairway of honor is the eighteenth-century Theater of the Court, planned by F. Fuga.


San Carlo Theatre

Commissioned by King Charles III of Bourbon, the theatre was inaugurated on the 4th November 1737, the name day of the sovereign, with the work "Achilles in Sciro" by Metastasio. The front of the theatre is composed of two structures, the first of which is an arcade with five pointed, ashlar arches. On the six majestic pillars there is a beautiful show of friezes with terracotta masks and the arches are decorated with stucco-work of various mythological figures. There are fourteen Ionic columns bearing a trapezoid tympanum decorated with stucco-work of lofty victories, at the sides of the inscription "Real Teatro di S. Carlo" (Royal Theatre of San Carlo"). The theatre, perfect from the acoustic point of view, is really spectacular and can hold 3000 spectators. Opposite the theatre, there is the very beautiful Umberto I gallery, with its neo-renaissance decorations, with mullioned windows with two and three lights on the upper floors. The covered area, entirely in glass and steel, contains a small flight of steps leading to the main entrance on via S. Carlo, while the inside is in the shape of an octagonal cross, with polychrome marble paving decorated with mosaics of the signs of the zodiac. The gallery contains bars and shops and is often frequented by personalities from the theatrical world.


Back to Top^

Port of Santa Lucia

Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) is a name of a street. Today this street runs between two rows of palaces, but until the end of the 19th century it was the more evocative section of waterfront, joining the two most important monumental palaces of the city: the Royal Palace in Piazza Plebiscito and Castel dell'Ovo in front of promontory of Pizzofalcone. On this road inhabited for tradition the Neapolitan fishermen, giving to the quarter a particular characterization of fishing village. In the second half of the 800 it was decided to advance the coastline until the current position (roads Partenope and Nazario Sauro) and to build a new fishing village to the feet of the Castel dell'Ovo where to transfer part of the fishermen families. Today the seafaring village of Saint Lucia consists of a small tourist port with connected services (bars, restaurants). On the new waterfront of Saint Lucia are situated some of the most exclusive and renown hotels of the city of Naples.


Villa Floridiana

A neoclassical villa in the style of Pompeii, overlooking the Bay of Naples and Capri, the Villa Floridiana was built between 1817 and 1819 according to the plans of A. Niccolini. Fernando I gave it to his wife Lucia Partanna, duchess of Floridia. The park is rich in camellias. At the far end stands a small palace containing the National Ceramics Museum, a collection of European and Oriental porcelain and majolica.


Castel dell'Ovo

The most interesting part of this side of the waterfront is with no doubt the Castel dell'Ovo (Egg Castle) which crossed over the whole history of Naples always as protagonist. Castel dell'Ovo rises on the islet of Megaride, in front of the promontory of Monte Echia (today Pizzofalcone) which divides the bay of the port from the bay of Riviera di Chiaia (the Caracciolo waterfront). This islet, once joined to the mainland by a small strip, was landing and settlement point for the first Greek colonists coming from Pithecusa (Ischia, at the beginning colony of Rhodi) who then founded the first nucleous of Partenope on Monte Echia, the 'old city' before Neapolis. During century I B.C. the islet of Megaride became property of Roman general and consul L.Licinio Lucullo, who build there his most rich and elegant villa, that extended also on the mainland with large gardens and enormous fishing ponds for breeding. It was traditionally told that in order to build those ponds he ordered massive works, which were cost more than the whole villa, since they had to cut a whole chunk of the Mount Echia. Minimal tracks of that magnificent villa remain, since the islet had been reconstructed many and many times along the centuries.


Back to Top^

Posillipo

Posillipo is an amazing, fascinating place, extending from Mergellina to the promontory of Posillipo, and one of the most beautiful along the coast. The incredible colours of the panorama, together with the warmth of the people, make this paradise picturesque and unique, with its characteristic villas and splendid mansions clinging to the hillside, overlooking the splendid gulf. This is certainly the only truly exclusive area of Naples, populated with splendid districts and buildings, with no modest, working-class houses. Mergellina, at the foot of Posillipo hill, owes its name to a bird that is very well known along the Neapolitan coast, the "mergus". This area was known from the Renaissance as "Mergolino" and a watchtower, built on the seashore, was also named after it.


Santa Chiara

Not to be missed is a walk through the historic center where you will see the Church of Santa Chiara and its gorgeous majolica-tiled cloister.
The Church of Santa Chiara, in via Croce next to the monastery, was built in the first half of the fourteenth century. Damaged during the bombardments of the Second World War, it was rebuilt respecting its gothic-Provencal architectonic forms. The facade decorated with gothic rose windows, opens onto a beautiful doorway situated under the three-arched atrium that precedes it. The interior holds noteworthy works of art including the fourteenth-century sculpture by A. Baboccio, Tino di Camaino, G. and P. Bertini. From the choir one reaches the cloisters, a work of the fourteenth century converted into a garden in the eighteenth century.


Piazza del Gesu Nuovo

One of the most beautiful and famous squares in Naples is, without a doubt, Piazza del Gesu Nuovo. The eighteenth century Pignatelli and Sanfelice Palaces, the spire of the Immacolata and the church of Gesu Nuovo, one of Naples' finest examples of Renaissance architecture, are all located in this square. What strikes you most is the monastery and church of Santa Chiara,
built for the wife of Roberto d'Angio. The monumental gothic buildings were completely transformed in the baroque period. You enter the church, completely renovated in yellow Pozzuoli tufa, through an archway crowned by a cross vault. The sepulchre of Roberto d'Angio is one of most beautiful examples of Italian gothic art.


Back to Top^

Duomo (Cathedral)

The Duomo, consecrated to San Gennaro, was built at the end of the thirteenth century on the site of an ancient Paleo-Christian basilica, but was rebuilt many times in the centuries to follow. The pseudo-gothic facade is a renovation from the beginning of this century, as are the fifteenth-century doorways. A "Madonna with Child" by Tino di Camaino enriches the central doorway. The interior, divided into three naves with 110 Oriental and African granite columns, contains canvasses by Luca Giordano, Stefano Poggi and Aniello Falcone, and sculptures by Domenico Fontana, Lorenzo Vaccaro and Girolamo d'Auria. Of particular value is the Chapel of San Gennaro, from the seventeenth century, which was built after a vote was taken by the citizens during the terrible plague of the sixteenth century. This chapel conserves frescoes by Domenichino and sculptures by the Finelli. Also worth visiting is the Chapel of Santa Restituta, in the left nave. Originally a Christian basilica of the fourth century, it was rebuilt after the 1688 earthquake by Arcangelo Guglielmelli. To the back of the right nave is the Baptistery, originally from the fifth century, built on a square plan and containing precious mosaics.


The Royal Palace of Capodimonte

Construction work on this splendid and majestic palace, finished in 1838, was assigned in 1738 to the architect Medrano and to a businessman Carasale, to satisfy King Carlo's passion for hunting. In 1743 a porcelain (Meissen) factory was built inside the park. The "Royal Capodimonte Factory" in 1759 produced the porcelain parlor in honour of queen Amalia of Saxony. In addition to the park and English garden, the palace also had a pheasant breeding area, a cattle breeding area, a hunting lodge and a larder. Some rooms housed parts of the Farnese collections, to which various gifts and purchases were added to complete the contents of the museum. Many illustrious people visited the rooms in the royal palace, and were bewitched. The rectangular building, has a majestic and regal appearance and houses the Museum, with its rich collection of porcelain and majolica made at the Royal Capodimonte Factory and the Art gallery, exhibiting works by the most significant Italian and foreign painters.