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.
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.
renato agostini, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
From Napoli Centrale railway station:
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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.
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David Sivyer from United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
Official site  |
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| 9.00 am – 7.00 pm (last admission: 6.30 pm) | |
| Tuesdays | |
| Standard ticket: € 10 + € 2 presale fee | |
From Spaccanapoli:
From Napoli Centrale railway station:
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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).
Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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| 9.00 am – 7.30 pm | |
| 25 December, 1 January Weekly closing: Tuesday |
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| Standard ticket: € 15 | |
From Spaccanapoli:
From Napoli Centrale railway station:
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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.
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Rutger van der Maar, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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| 9.00 am – 8.00 pm | |
| Wednesday | |
| Standard ticket: € 6 | |
From National Archaeological Museum:
From Napoli Centrale railway station:
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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.
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Armando Mancini from Napoli, Italia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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Beginning of the tour:
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| Always open | |
| Standard: € 10 | |
From Napoli Centrale railway station:
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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.
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Mentnafunangann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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| 8.30 am – 7.30 pm | |
| Wednesday | |
| Standard: € 10 | |
From Napoli Centrale railway station:
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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.
Santo Mario Gattuso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
Official site  |
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| 8.30 am – 6.30 pm | |
| Sunday | |
| Standard: € 6 | |
From Napoli Centrale railway station:
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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.
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Marco Ober, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
From New Castle:
From Napoli Centrale railway station:
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