Naples is placed at the centre of the namesake gulf between the Vesuvio volcano and the Campi Flegrei area surrounded by a unique scenario considered “one of the most appreciated and enchanting landscapes in the world”. Naples is one of the most ancient European cities and its history is still now preserved in all the constructions and the streets that characterize its historical centre that has been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Naples is made up by many fascinating colours, sounds and scents that will ravish and seduce you.
The most important monuments and palaces you can see in this city are:

The magnificent Castel Nuovo or Maschio Angioino

 
The superb Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace) and its Gardens

The Capodimonte Royal Palace and its Museum

The Castel dell’Ovo

This is an imposing fortified XII century construction that dominates the Naples seafront. You can visit this castle everyday : you can go for a walk inside this building admiring a striking landscape and visiting the “Room of the Columns” (Sala delle Colonne).

The Castel Sant’Elmo

This is a big star shaped construction built during the XIV century and used in the past as a prison. Being surrounded by bastions and pillboxes, it dominates all the city: from its terraces you can admire a wonderful landscape of the Naples gulf.

The Carafa di Maddaloni Palace

This is one of the most important baroque palaces in Naples. Inside this construction you can admire valuable XVII and XVIII century Naples paintings.

The Como Palace

This building is the seat of the Gaetano Filangieri Artistic Museum that contains a wide collection of artistic works.

The Gravina Palace

This is the seat of the college of Architecture representing an example of the Tuscany-Roman architectonical shapes that characterized Naples during the XVI century.

The San Carlo Theatre

This is the temple of the Naples opera: this theatre was inaugurated in 1737 and restructured during the XIX century.

The Prinicipe Gallery made up by iron and glass.

The Umberto I Gallery

The most important one among its four entries is which one in front of the San Carlo Theatre being characterized by a façade ornamented by marble statues and niches.

Visiting Naples you should also admire its several squares:

The Plebiscito Square

This surely is the most famous an biggest square in Naples. At its centre there are two equestrian statues by Antonio Canova representing Ferdinando I and Carlo III di Borbone. This square is delimited by four constructions: the Chruch of San Francesco di Paola, the Royal Palace, the Salerno Palace and the Foresteria Palace. The Basilica’s semi-elliptic colonnade (that recalls which one of the San Pietro Basilica in Rome) particularly characterizes the shape of this square.

The Trieste and Trento Square

This square is famous for being characterized by all those constructions that represent the neoclassic part of Naples: here, in fact, you can admire the San Carlo Theatre, the Umberto I Gallery, the Caffè Gambrinus and the Church of San Francesco di Paola with its imposing colonnade.

The Gesù Nuovo Square

This is one of the most striking and characteristic squares of the historical centre and it is crossed by the famous street called Spaccanapoli. The namesake church is one of the best example of the Naples baroque and it will mostly fascinate you for its beautiful façade and its three main doors connected to each one of the three internal aisles. You should admire the opulent internal decorations of this church whose walls are covered by polychrome marbles. All the altars are ornamented with precious stones like plasmas, amethysts and lapis lazuli. On the opposite side of the Church of the Gesù, going through the Benedetto Croce street, there is the gothic façade of the XIV century Church of S. Chiara and its bell tower. In this church monastery you should visit the wonderful Cloister ornamented with majolica. Two other important elements of this square are the funeral monument of Roberto I d’Angiò and the Immacolata Obelisk.

The Nilo Small Square

It is placed near the famous street called Spaccanapoli at the very beginning of San Biagio dei Librai street. So you can find this small square exactly in the middle of the historical centre and in fact it is nicknamed the “Naples Body”. The main feature of this square is its statue representing the Nile god as an old bearded man carrying a cornucopia. Leaving from this square and going through San Biagio dei Librai street you will reach after some minutes the famous nativity-sets artisans street called San Gregorio Armeno.

The Dante Square

This is one of the most well-travelled places in Naples and also an important touristic destination of this city because of the presence of the Carolino Forum: a semi cycle made up by a series of monumental churches that surround this square like the church of San Michele a Port’Alba, of Santa Maria di Caravaggio and  of San Domenico Soriano. At the centre of the square there is the Dante Aligheri monument by Tito Angelini.

The Bellini Square

Here you can admire a part of the ancient tufa walls of the Greek-Roman city. This square has a rectangular shape and at its centre there is the Vincenzo Bellini monument: the famous music maker that in 1819 moved from Catania to Naples to study in the San Pietro a Maiella conservatory placed near this place. This is also an appreciated meeting point for young people and intellectuals thanks to the presence of many pubs and of a literary café.

The San Domenico Maggiore Square

This is one of the most beautiful Naples square placed exactly at the middle of the ancient “Neapolis”. Its characteristic features are the polygonal apse, the staircase of the namesake Church, the big central obelisk, the XVI century Corigliano Palace, the Sangro di Casacalenda Palace and the Petrucci Palace.

This square’s namesake church was built during the end of the XIII century but in its internal space the severe gothic lines are hidden by the next baroque decorations. This church is in fact full of very valuable artistic works like the frescos by Caravaggio.

The Municipio Square

This is a wide rectangular square whose centre is ornamented by an equestrian statue representing Vittorio Emanuele III.

Another very important feature of Naples is represented by its streets:

The Spaccanapoli Street

This is one of the most famous streets in Naples where art, tradition, history and local culture are mixed together. The name of this street (made up by seven different streets) can be understood by watching an overview of the city: you will suddenly note that this street precisely divides the historical centre into two parts. Going through Spaccanapoli means crossing the Naples history admiring many artistic treasures that recall the past of this city.

The Toledo Street

This is one of the main streets of this city where you can do shopping. Going through it you will find historical buildings, noble palaces, monumental churches, theatres, cafés and famous pastry stores, and many important brands boutiques.

The Caracciolo Street

This is a part of the Naples seafront. At the beginning of it you can admire the XVII century Sebeto Fountain and going on through Caracciolo Street you can find the Mergellina small port where there are the hydrofoils (that can carry you to the Gulf’s islands like Capri and Ischia), the touristic boats and the local fishers who sell their fish on platforms or directly from their trawlers. Going on you can admire the elegant constructions placed near the Gulf and then the gardens and the trees of the Public Park where there is the Dohrn aquarium that is the most ancient one in Europe.

The San Gregorio Armeno Street

This is the famous street of the nativity-sets artisans well-known all over the world for their artistic creation of these little statues. All the workshops can be visited all year long : it is very hard to describe the multitude of colorful shops and stands placed in this street. Here you can find everything for your nativity-set: cork or cardboard houses, mechanical constructions like mills or waterfalls, handmade terra cotta shepherds that can also reach the height of 30 centimeters being ornamented with real dresses tailored to measure.  These are real artistic creations made by artisan families whose youngest generations are still preserving this art. Among these beautiful works there usually are also other kitschy little statues that are veritable caricatures of the most famous international and national personalities of the moment. This feature has become one of the most classic characteristic of this street where you can find all the fancy and the irony of the Naples inhabitants.

The Chiaia Street

This is one of the most famous and elegant streets in Naples where you can do a lot of shopping thanks to the presence of many boutiques and typical shops surrounded by many historical buildings.

The Via dei Tribunali (the Justice Courts streets)

Here all the skulls and the crossed shinbones recall all the activities practiced in the past in this place for the cult of the dead.

The most beautiful churches you can visit in Naples are:

The Santa Maria della Sanita’ Basilica

This  Church and its bell tower were built during the XVII century. Externally you can admire its beautiful dome covered by yellow and green majolica. The high bell tower is characterized by the presence of a XVIII century majolica watch.

The Incoronata Madre del buon consiglio Basilica

This Church was built in 1960 and its structure is clearly influenced by which one of the San Pietro Basilica in Rome.

The Church of S.Brigida

This religious construction is included in the Umberto I Gallery containing an interesting collection of XVII century paintings. 

The Church of the Holy Ghost (Chiesa dello Spirito Santo)

In this church placed in the Gesù Nuovo square you can admire many XVI century artistic works by Michelangelo Naccherino and Mario Gioffredo.

The S. Severo Chapel

Inside this chapel there are the famous “Macchine Anatomiche” (“Anatomic Machines”) studies by Raimondo di Sangro and the enchanting “Cristo Velato” by Giuseppe Sanmartino (1753).

The Church of S. Gregorio Armeno

This is a byzantine convent completely covered by frescos. Once here you should admire its perfectly preserved cloister characterized by a central marble fountain.

The Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore

This magnificent church is very famous because it was the most important religious place during the middle age. Every Christmas in this religious construction you can admire a life-size nativity-set. Here you can also visit the archaeological excavations among Greek-Roman walls, cisterns and tunnels made up by tufa stone.

The Cathedral Dome

This church was built at the end of the XII century and it contains the memorabilia of San Gennaro, the Naples Patron Saint.

The museums you can visit in Naples are:

The Archaeological National Museum:

This is the most important archaeological museum in Europe containing the collection of finds belonging to the Borbone family together with a series of bronzes, of statues and of other objects found in the Pompei and Ercolano excavations. You should admire the “Gruppo di Tirannicidi” and all the sculptures shown in the “Galleria dei Grandi Maestri“.

The Museum and Gallery of Capodimonte

In this museum there are many works created from the XII to the XVIII century belonging to the Farnese family collection. Here you should admire the “Collezione Romana” (the “Roman Collection“) made up by works by Michelangelo, Tiziano, El Greco, Raffaello and Botticelli.

The Museum and the Carthusian monastery of San Martino

The Museum of the Royal Palace (Museo di Palazzo Reale)

In this museum you can see all the furniture, the sculptures, the chinaware and the pictures belonging to the Borbone family. In its Chapel you can admire the “Arte sacra di Palazzo” exhibition.

Other attractive places you can visit in Naples are:

The Vomero District

This is an extremely relaxing district of Naples. Here you can find many museums, shops, monuments, and ancient cafés. From this place you can reach through a funicular the Montesanto hill where you can admire a wonderful landscape on Castel Sant’Elmo and on the Certosa di San Martino.

The “Quartieri spagnoli” (the “Spanish districts”).

This is one of the most fascinating places of the city being made up by a labyrinth of narrow streets. This district was created during the XVI century when the Spanish conquerors transformed this city adding new buildings, churches and streets like the beautiful Toledo street.

The “Underground Naples” (the “Napoli  Sotterranea”)

This is a veritable ancient “city under the city”: the ancient Greeks, in fact, built  under the ground important funeral monuments while the Romans created a striking tangle of caves, cisterns, tunnels and aqueducts. Here archaeologists found objects made 5.000 years ago. Today you can visit part of this underground city through guided visits organized by these associations:

Associazione Napoli Sotterranea
San Gaetano Square N. 68, Naples

Associazione LAES, Napoli e la Città  Sotterranea
S. Anna di Palazzo Street N. 52

The Underground Borbone’s  City

Very soon there will be a new underground path that will lead you to discover the tunnel that the Borbone family built during the XIX century to connect the Plebiscito Square to the Chiaia zone. This tunnel was used by the royal family as a secret way of escape.

In Naples also nature contributes to create a special atmosphere: here, in fact, you will admire the natural scenario made up by the gulf with its rocks and the famous islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida, the Vesuvio volcano preserved in the namesake park and the Campi Flegrei Natural park where you can watch live some impressive volcanic phenomena.

The Naples nightlife offers many amusing alternatives : in the historical centre there are the trendiest pubs and discos.

The main meeting points are the Mergellina seafront and the squares called Piazza dei Martiri, Piazza Amedeo, Piazza San Pasquale di Chiaia and Piazza Sannazzaro.

Gastronomy

The Naples gastronomy is famous all around the world especially for its pizza but also for other delicious recipes like special sauces used to dress pasta, fish and sweets.

You can start tasting the “mozzarella in carrozza” going on choosing a first course among the “spaghetti alla puttanesca”, the spaghetti with clams and the macaroni dressed with Naples ragù whose preparation requires many hours.

As a second course you can eat mussels in a pepper broth (Impepata di cozze) or the red mullets baked in foil (Triglie al cartoccio). After having eaten fish you can taste some delicious local cheeses like the scamorza and the caciocavallo cheese whose flavor will change according their degree of maturation.

In this zone there also is the production of famous wines like the Greco di Tufo DOC, the Taurasi DOCG, the Fiano di Avellino, the Lacryma Christi (that can be white, red or rosé) and the l’Aglianico del Taburno.

The typical local desserts are: the rum based Babà , the Sfogliatelle, or the “Struffoli”. You should also taste the traditional “Pastiera napoletana” made up by grain and ricotta cheese with some orange flowers essence.

At the end of your lunch or dinner you should drink the typical Naples coffee followed by a liqueur called the “Ammazzacaffè” (“The coffee killer”).

You will taste one of the best coffee in the world because here inhabitants are very expert in making a unique artistic blend. The “Ammazzacaffè” can be a local liqueur like the famous limoncello produced with the infusion of the Sorrento lemons peels.

Traditions

The most important traditions in Naples are:

The Cantata dei Pastori (the Shepherds’ Cantata)

The  Miracolo di San Gennaro  (the San Gennaro  Miracle)

The “Smorfia” and the “Lotto” lottery 

The Natale a Napoli (Christmas in Naples)

Events

“Maggio dei monumenti” (“May of the monuments”) – On April, May and on June.

The San Gennaro Feast – on the 19th of September

The Pasta Show – October

The Pizza Feast – September

The Piedigrotta Feast – September

How to arrive in Naples

By Car

Coming from Rome or from the Northern part of Italy you should go through the A1 Hiaghway until Naples.

Coming from the Southern part of Italy you should entirely follow the A3 Highway until Naples.

Coming from Bari and from the Apulia region you should go through the A16 Highway until Naples.

By Train

The Naples Central Railway Station is well connected to the whole Italian territory. Today you can also use the new High Velocity Train that connects Rome to Naples. For other information you can call to this free green number: 89 20 21.

By Plain

The Naples Capodichino Airport (NAP) offers flights towards all the Italian cities and towards the main European destinations through traditional or low-cost companies. Once arrived, the “Alibus” shuttle service will bring you from this airport to the urban city of Naples.

The nearest intercontinental airport is which one of Rome Fiumicino (FCO) connected to Naples through direct flights or train lines.

By Boat

Many hydrofoils and ferries leave from the Beverello and the Mergellina pier towards the Gulf’s islands and towards the Sorrento peninsula: the hydrofoils usually are faster than ferries and this service is more frequent in summertime.

…Enjoy your stay in Naples!

Related Articles:

The Piedigrotta Feast in Naples

Christmas in Naples

The “May of Monuments” in Naples

The Naples “Smorfia” and the “Lotto” lottery

The Pizza Fest in Naples

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