Naples

Naples offers many cultural attractions (castles, villas, churches, museums and more).

Naples is widely known as a popular holiday destination and there are many visitors throughout the year.

Official site of Tourism Board

View of Naples with Vesuvio

Livioandronico2013, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to get to Naples

The Airport of Naples (Aeroporto Internazionale di Napoli Capodichino) is connected to the city centre via a special bus line called Alibus shuttle.

The city of Naples has fantastic public transport and driving can be complicated, so it is best to leave the car at the airport or at the hotel where you will be staying, and use it to get out of the city towards farther destinations.

For more information, check the websites of the airports:
https://www.aeroportodinapoli.it/homepage

Things to do in Naples

Spaccanapoli

Spaccanapoli is a straight and narrow main street that traverses the old, historic centre of the city of Naples. Like the name suggests (“Naples splitter”), it divides the old and the new part of the city.

Spaccanapoli is one of the main attractions of Naples and a perfect promenade for tourists, as it provides access to a great number of important sights. These include churches of Santa Chiara, Santa Marta, San Biagio Maggiore, San Francesco delle Monache and palazzos Venezia, Petrucci, Pinelli, Carafa della Spina, Filomarino della Rocca, Marigliano, Nilo (with Nile God statue), and Palazzo of Monte di Pietà, among others.

Spaccanapoli - panoramio

renato agostini, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Useful information

View location on Google Maps
From Napoli Centrale railway station:

  • By foot: 24 minutes
  • Metro: From Piazza Garibaldi Line L1 (towards Piscinola), Duomo stop
  • Bus: n. 151, Attestamento – Giulio Cesare – Tecchio stop

Sansevero Chapel and Veiled Christ

Also known as the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà, this chapel is located just northwest of the church of San Domenico Maggiore, in the historic centre of Naples. It contains works of Rococo art by some of the leading Italian artists of the 18th century.

Do not miss three particular sculptures, with stunning depiction of translucent veils and a fisherman’s net: the Veiled Truth (Pudicizia, also called Modesty or Chastity) by Corradini, the Veiled Christ under a Shroud by genius Sanmartino and the Release from Deception (Disinganno) by Queirolo of Genoa. The Veiled Christ in particular is considered one of the world’s most remarkable sculptures, and legendarily thought to have been created by alchemy.

Cappella Sansevero (15041603867)

Useful information

View location on Google Maps
Official site 
9.00 am – 7.00 pm (last admission: 6.30 pm)
Tuesdays
Standard ticket: € 10 + € 2 presale fee
From Spaccanapoli:

  • By foot: 2 minutes

From Napoli Centrale railway station:

  • By foot: 25 minutes
  • Metro: From Piazza Garibaldi Line L1, Dante stop
  • Bus: n. n. 151, Marchese Campodisola Il stop

National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Also called MANN, it holds a collection of works from Greek, Roman and Renaissance times, and incredible Roman artefacts from the nearby Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum sites. Notable works include: the Farnese Cup (a Ptolemaic bowl made of sardonyx agate, with gems collected by Cosimo de’ Medici and Lorenzo il Magnifico); the Herculaneum papyri, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius; the Farnese Marbles (Hercules, Atlas, Bull, Artemis, busts of Roman emperors and more); bronzes from the Villa of the Papyri (the Seated Hermes and a sprawling Drunken Satyr, among others); the Mosaic Collection, with important mosaics recovered from the ruins of Pompeii and the other Vesuvian cities (e.g. the Alexander Mosaic).

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli 42

Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Useful information

View location on Google Maps
Official site 
9.00 am – 7.30 pm
25 December, 1 January
Weekly closing: Tuesday
Standard ticket: € 15
From Spaccanapoli:

  • By foot: 13 minutes

From Napoli Centrale railway station:

  • By foot: 29 minutes
  • Metro: From Piazza Garibaldi Line L1, Museo stop
  • Bus: n. 151, Museo stop

Piazza del Plebiscito and the Royal Palace

Named after the plebiscite that brought Naples into the unified Kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoy, the Piazza is very close to the Gulf of Naples, and bounded by the Royal Palace (east) and the church of San Francesco di Paola (west), with twin colonnades extending to each side.

Other adjacent buildings include the Palazzo Salerno and the Prefecture Palace.

The square is sometimes used for open-air concerts. The Royal Palace is a palace, museum, and historical tourist destination: it was one of the four residences near Naples used by the House of Bourbon during their rule of the Kingdom of Naples and later the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Piazza del Plebiscito (43753536320)

Rutger van der Maar, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Useful information

View location on Google Maps
Official site 
9.00 am – 8.00 pm
Wednesday
Standard ticket: € 6
From National Archaeological Museum:

  • By foot: 23 minutes

From Napoli Centrale railway station:

  • By foot: 40 minutes
  • Metro: From Piazza Garibaldi Line L1, Municipio stop
  • Bus: n. 151, Acton stop

Naples underground

It is an underground geothermal zone, with several tunnels dug during the ages, which runs beneath Naples and its surrounding area, from Mount Vesuvius to Pompei, Herculaneum, the volcanic area of Campi Flegrei, Pozzuoli and the Baia.

Extreme geothermal pressure helped forming a strong, durable and malleable volcanic sandstone called tuff, an incredible building material. The caverns resulting from mining were later used to form water reservoirs, with water diverted there from the main aqueducts. The Ancient Greeks dug long and elaborate aqueducts beneath the city more than 2,500 years ago.

Napoli sotterranea (scala scavata)

Useful information

View location on Google Maps
Official site 
Beginning of the tour:

  • From Monday to Friday: 10.00 am, 12.00 pm, 4.30 pm
  • Saturday: 10.00 am, 12.00 pm, 4.30 pm
  • Sunday and holidays: 10.00 am, 12.00 pm, 4.30 pm
Always open
Standard: € 10
From Napoli Centrale railway station:

  • By foot: 20 minutes
  • Metro: From Piazza Garibaldi Line L1, Duomo stop

Museo di Capodimonte

Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo. The museum, one of the biggest of Italy, holds incredibly important paintings, decorative art and ancient Roman sculptures. The first and second floors house the Galleria Nazionale (National Gallery), with paintings by Caravaggio, Titian, Raphael, El Greco, Giovanni Bellini, Simone Martini, Masaccio, Lorenzo Lotto, Giorgio Vasari, Jacob Philipp Hackert and many others.

Take the chance to appreciate paintings of the Neapolitan School as well, by Jusepe de Ribera, Luca Giordano and the Neapolitan Caravaggisti, among others. On the ground floor you can also admire classical sculptures from the Farnese collection.

Sala 20 (Museo nazionale di Capodimonte) 001

Mentnafunangann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Useful information

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Official site 
8.30 am – 7.30 pm
Wednesday
Standard: € 10
From Napoli Centrale railway station:

  • By foot: 44 minutes
  • Metro: From Piazza Garibaldi Line L1, Museo stop
  • Bus: n. 460

New Castle or Angevin Keep

This medieval castle is located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall (Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples. It was one of the royal seats for kings of Naples, Aragon and Spain until 1815, and its scenic location and imposing size make it one of the main architectural landmarks of the city.

Many eminent people have stayed there for a time, among them Boccaccio, Giotto, Pope Boniface VIII, Pope Celestine V and Petrarch. Its name derives from Charles I of Anjou, under whose reign the castle was built, both as a royal residence and a fortress.

Maschio angioino1

Santo Mario Gattuso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Useful information

View location on Google Maps
Official site 
8.30 am – 6.30 pm
Sunday
Standard: € 6
From Napoli Centrale railway station:

  • By foot: 34 minutes
  • Metro: From Piazza Garibaldi Line L1, Municipio stop
  • Bus: R2, Piazza Municipio stop

Galleria Umberto I

Galleria Umberto I is a public shopping gallery located directly across from the San Carlo opera house. It was built a decade before 1900 in the Stile Umbertino, with modern architectural elements reminiscent of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan.

The aim was to combine public and private space together, with businesses, shops, cafes and social life on the first floors, and private apartments on the third one. The building is part of the UNESCO listing of the Historic Centre of Naples as a World Heritage Site, and its high and spacious structure and glass dome will marvel you.

Galleria Umberto I, Interior, Naples (5263)

Marco Ober, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Useful information

View location on Google Maps
From New Castle:

  • By foot: 2 minutes

From Napoli Centrale railway station:

  • By foot: 36 minutes
  • Metro: From Piazza Garibaldi Line L1, Municipio stop