NAPOLI/NAPLES
campania
Sites: Piazza Plebiscito, Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino), Galleria Umberto I, Spaccanapoli, The Duomo of Naples, "Underground" Naples, St. Lucia and Castel dell'Ovo, Caracciolo, Vomero, Carthusian Monastery, San Martino & National Museum, Capodimonte Park, National Museum & Gallery of the Capodimonte, Cape Posillipo, National Archaeological Museum of Naples.
PIAZZA PLEBISCITO
Piazza Plebiscito has become the symbol of the recent renovation of Naples in the 1994, when it recovered its representive function on the occasion of G7 (the recurrent summit of the most industrialized nations in the world). Since then, the square is a pedestrian area designed for the enjoyment of tourists and dwellers; every now and then here are played concerts and happenings or shown large installations of contemporary art. Piazza Plebiscito was given its present name on the occasion of plebiscite held here on October 1860, by which Naples and the whole Southern Italy ratified their annexation to Piedmont Kingdom by Savoy. Before the square was called "Largo di Palazzo" (wide space in front of the Palace) because it faced main facade of the Royal Palace, which was built at the beginning of 1600 on project by architect Domenico Fontana, coming from Papal Court in Rome. It is noteworthy the great staircase leading to the noble floor, where it is possible to visit some halls, among which the Throne Room and the Court Theatre. The Royal Palace also houses the National Library. In the open space of the square there had been some convents, at the beginning. The first was the franciscan monastery of the Holy Cross, made built by the Angevins and corresponding to the actual Palace of Salerno, which occupies the south edge of the square and contains in its interior the ancient Church of the Holy Cross, where he had been buried the young heir to the Angevin throne. The monastery had been demolished in 1775 and the new palace built on its place was initially a military headquarter and then private residence of the Prince of Salerno, by whom it took the name. Nowadays it is again a centre of military offices.
On the north edge of the square there was the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, on whose foot it developed a small suburb, around a square named "Largo Santo Spirito" corresponding to the actual "Piazza Trieste e Trento". The monastery was pulled down at the beginning of the XVII century because of the construction of the Royal Palace, in order to enlarge the space in front of the main facade. The building that closes the square to the north (at symmetrical correspondence with the Salerno Palace) is the Palace of "Foresteria" (Guests) that was built in 1815 and today houses the Prefecture. During the Aragonese reign, in the middle of the actual square, it rose the Convent of San Luigi, founded by San Francesco di Paola (St. Francis from Paola) who settled in Naples when he returned from his legendary pilgrimage to the King of France. An anecdote tells that the Saint, answering to the objections raised by King Ferrante who suggested him to choose another place, predicted that it will have become "the most magnificent place in the city". The monastery was definitively destroyed during the early of XIX century, in order to make space for the forum ordered by the Napoleonic government, during the French Decade (1805-15), with the semielliptical colonnade in neoclassical style projected by Leopoldo Laperuta. After the Bourbon's return, Ferdinand IV King of Naples (I as King of Two Sicilies) decided to keep those works, but turning their celebrative significance to advantage of the restoration of monarchy. So he made built in the middle of the colonnade (in front of the Royal Palace) the Basilica dedicated to "San Francesco di Paola", not only because he was traditionally loved and venerated by the Neapolitans, but also for the reason that he was the founder of the convent destroyed in order to make place for the Napoleonic forum.
The church, built between 1816 and 1836 following the project by Pietro Bianchi, is an imitation of the Pantheon in Rome. It has a circular plan and is covered by an hemispherical dome with a lacunar made of stone. The most valuable element in the church is certainly the main altar, richly decorated with precious marbles, designed by Ferdinando Fuga in 1751. It has been originally placed into the church of Saints Apostles, in the old center. Before the entrance there is a neoclassical porch, covered by a gable on whose vertices there are the statues of the Religion, of San Francesco di Paola and San Ferdinando. In the focuses of the ellipse that defines the line of colonnade, they were placed two equestrian statues made of bronze. The one on north is by Antonio Canova, who received by Joseph Bonaparte the order for a statue of his brother Napoleon riding. The order was confirmed by Ferdinand of Bourbon, but changing the figure into his father Charles. Then Ferdinand asked Canova for another statue of himself, but the artist made only the horse, while the figure was completed by his Neapolitan disciple Calì.
CASTEL NUOVO (MASCHIO ANGIOINO)
Behind the "Palazzo Reale" (Royal Palace) to the northeast, on the south side of the "Piazza del Municipio" (Town Hall Square), is the five-towered "Castel Nuovo" (New Castle), once the residence of kings and viceroys of Naples. Brooding over the modern traffic that swirls around it, this castle is one of the most famous landmarks of the city and is often referreto to by Neapolitans as the "Maschio Angioino" (Angevin Keep, in reference to its Angevin builders). Today it is the seat of the city government, with its courtyard filling up in June with couples registering their wedding vows, and the moat outside is the site of a morning flower market. The Castle's shadow, however, hides some legend-haunted events that played out within the dark, piperno-stone walls, along with - rumor once had it - King Ferrante's crocodile, which was said to dispatch prisoners. The founder of the Angevin dynasty, Charles I d'Anjou, built this fortress, known from its beginning, in 1279, as the "new castle" (to differentiate it from the "Castel dell'Ovo" and the "Castel Capuano"). Due to the events of the Sicilian Vespers, the new fortress remained uninhabited until 1285, when Charles died and was succeeded by his son, Charles II. Under his successor, Robert the Wise, it became a center of culture, with the castle library attracting such luminaries as Petrarch and Boccaccio. "Castel Nuovo" became soon the nucleus of the historical center of the city, and was often the site of famous events. For example, on December 13th, 1294, Pope Celestine V resigned as pope in a hall of the castle. Eleven days later, Boniface VIII was elected pope here by the cardinal collegium and immediately moved to Rome to avoid the Angevine authority. Under King Robert (reigned from 1309), the castle was enlarged and embellished, becoming a centre of patronage of art. In 1347 "Castel Nuovo" was sacked by the army of Louis I of Hungary, and had to be heavily restored after the return of Queen Joanna I. The new works permitted the Queen to resist the Hungarian siege during Luis' second expedition. The castle was besieged numerous times in the following years, and was the official residence of King Ladislas from 1399. He decayed under his sister Joanna II. Alfonso d'Aragona took up residence here when he conquered Naples in 1443 and marked his rule with a fairly complete rebuilding, including the five defensive towers now visible and, especially, the impressive marble "Arco di Trionfo" (Triumphal Arc) at the entrance. This highly important work of the first Renaissance (1443-68) consciously takes its inspiration from ancient Roman triumphal arches, recombining the elements, however, in a completely innovative composition of two superimposed arches so as to fit the tall, narrow space. Many noted sculptors worked on the arch. The most celebrated was Francesco Laurana, who carved the bas-relief above the lower arch, which shows, appropriately, the triumphal entrance of Alfonso into Naples on February 26th, 1443. After the fierce sack of Naples by Charles VIII of France's soldiers in 1494, the Kingdom was annexed by Spain, and the castle was reduced from residence to an important military fortress. It was the temporary residence of the Spanish kings during their visits in the city, such as that of Charles V in 1535. The castle was again used as a residence by Charles III, who became King of Naples in 1734. To the left inside the Triumphal Arc is the ticket office.
Across the imposing courtyard is the Gothic Church of Santa Barbara (or "Cappella Palatina" - Palatine Chapel), one of the few remaining structures of the Angevin Palace its austere facade graced by a portal with delicate reliefs and a Madonna by Francesco Laurana (1474). Decorated inside by Giotto and friends in the XIV century, the frescoes are now reduced to a few fragments, none of which can be attributed to the master. The chapel now houses paintings from the XIV through the early XVI centuries and graceful sculptures by Laurana and Domenico Gagini. Next to the Chapel in the left corner is the "Sala dell'Armeria" (the Armory), where part of the flooring has been glassed over to reveal the remains of a Roman villa and a medieval necropolis. Above the "Armeria", with access up a long ramp of steps, is the current Naples city council chamber, the "Sala dei Baroni" (Hall of the Barons), built for Alfonso by the Majorcan architect Guglielmo Sagrera in 1446-54. Its simple volume is topped with a late-Gothic Moorish-inspired octagonal star vault whose ribs, in gray piperno, provide a harmonious accent to the yellow-tufa walls. The hall gets its name from a famous party held here in 1486, when Ferdinand I of Aragon invited a number of troublesome, powerful lords to dinner and then had them arrested and executed. For souvenirs of the event, he had several of the victims embalmed; their bodies were brought out from time to time to entertain more fortunate guests, who still must have been a bit nervous. The dungeons where the unlucky lords were to await death are below the Palatine Chapel (you would think that their moans would have disturbed any mass being held) and can be viewed today. The rest of the public space of the castle houses the "Museo Civico" (Civic Museum), which holds an interesting, low-key collection of painting and sculpture, especially strong in XIX-century landscapes with views of a lost or transformed Naples, but also with some nice XVII-century paintings and the bronze doors that Ferrante commissioned from William the Monk in 1475 to record his victory over John D'Anjou.
Open: Monday-Saturday 09:00 am to 07:00 pm (the ticket office closes at 06:00 pm)
Entrance Fee: € 5,00
Reduced: € 4,00
Address: Piazza Municipio - Naples
Phone: 039-081-7952003
GALLERIA UMBERTO I
Opposite the San Carlo is the grandest interior in southern Italy, the "Galleria Umberto I". This great glass-roofed arcade, perhaps the largest in the world, was begun in 1887, nine years after the "Galleria Vittorio Emanuele" in Milan. The arcade is cross-shaped, with a pretty mosaic of the zodiac on the floor at the centre, and its arching dome is 184ft tall. The Neapolitans don't seem to like it as much as they once did: even at high noon, you are likely to find its vast spaces deserted but for a few small clouds of forceful, grey-suited men arguing politics around the entrances.
SPACCANAPOLI
The greek city of Neapolis, as usual in the ancient greek towns, had developed around three straight streets running parallel from East to the West (called "plateiai" by greeks and "decumani" by Romans) and crossed by several secondary streets at right angles. They correspond to the actual streets of "Via Anticaglia", "Via Tribunali" and "Spaccanapoli" (starting from North to the South) that are however on an higher ground level, because what remains of the ancient Greek and Roman buildings are situated nowadays underground and can be partially visited with the guides of the association "Napoli Sotterranea" (Underground Naples). The main decumanus was "Via Tribunali" and in its middle there was the main public square with the marketplace and the temples ("agora" for Greeks, "forum" for Romans), corresponding to the current "Piazza San Gaetano". But the most interesting decumanus for tourist in the southern one, because they had been built on it many important monuments during the Middle Age and the Renaissance. And also because its straight path, extended until the Vomero hill, has a strong scenographic impact, giving the impression to cut the city of Naples in two parts, from which its name "Spaccanapoli" (Cutting Naples). At the west end of the ancient decumanus of Spaccanapoli there is "Piazza del Gesù" (Jesus' Square), rich of history and monuments. Here had been the Royal Gate built by the Angevins and here is the Gothic Church of Santa Chiara with adjacent monastery, founded in 1310 by King Robert of Anjou, decorated by Giotto and celebrated by Petrarch. Its interiors had been deeply changed in XVIII century, but the church was bombed and almost completely destroyed during the Second World War. It has been reconstructed following the original Gothic plan and inside we can still fortunately see the sculptures by "Tino di Camaino" on the tombs of some members of the Royal family of Anjou.
Very important for the Neapolitan style of decoration is the Cloister of Santa Chiara, inside the Convent of Clarisse nuns behind the Church. It was restructured by the Neapolitan architect Vaccaro around 1750 and from the original Gothic structure it conserves only the pointed arches of the cloister, while the octagonal pilasters and the stone benches of the internal open space were covered by majolica representing rural and allegorical subjects. Many generations of Neapolitan ceramists had been inspired by the majolica of Santa Chiara, in their works for the decorations of villas, palaces and gardens all around the kingdom. Still nowadays the tiles produced around Naples by craftsmen, in their workshops of artistic pottery, evidence the influence by that tradition. The Church of "Gesù Nuovo" (New Jesus), which gives the name to the square, was early a private palace owned by the noble family Sanseverino, Princes of Salerno, who lost the Viceroy's favours for the antispanish positions taken by Prince Ferrante, who was exiled. Their palace was confiscated and transfered to the Jesuits. The main facade is done with ashlar and it is the original one of the palace, while the interiors was reconstructed in Baroque forms, with an important and wealthy decoration of paintings and sculptures. In the middle of the square there is the high Spire of "Immacolata" (Immaculate), which has a statue of the Madonna on its top. This statue is crowned with a flower garland once a year, on the festivity of the Immaculate Conception, by the Major and the Cardinal of Naples, lifted together up to the top of the spire by a crane among the crowd. Going on towards east, we reach the square of San Domenico Maggiore, where is the apse of the Church that gives the name to the square, built between 1283 and 1324 by Charles of Anjou for the Dominican friars. Inside the adjacent monastery they hosted for some centuries the University of Naples, where also San Tommaso d'Aquino taught. When the Aragonese kings came, this became the main church of the city, intended to house the tombs of the new regnant dynasty, and it substituted for this function the Church of Santa Chiara. The Aragonese restructured the square in Renaissance shapes: it became the new political centre of the city, where the kings received their subjects. The delegates of noblemen met in the near "Seggio del Nilo" (Nile Seat), that was a small nobiliary parliament: it was demolished in the XVII century and on its place they put a Roman marble statue which decorated it and represents the "Nile Lying", initially placed there by the colony of Alexandrine merchants who had settled in this area.
After the square of San Domenico we find the street of San Gregorio Armeno, which joins Spaccanapoli with "Via Tribunali" and that collects all the craftsmen of Neapolitan Christmas Crib (Manger Scenes). Each Christmas this street becomes destination of pilgrimage by tourists and enthusiasts, and turns itself into a kermesse of lights and colours, where they merge popular and cultured religion, Christianity and paganism. On a side of the street there is the Convent of San Gregorio Armeno, founded in the VIII century by some Armenian nuns escaped to the iconoclastic campaign and reconstructed in the XVII century. Interesting are the bell tower hanging over the street and the cloister with an unusual panoramic view over the Gulf of Naples. The street ends in the square of San Gaetano, which stands upon the heart of the ancient city (Greek and Roman, agora and forum), whose only remains are the two Roman columns on the facade of the Church of San Paolo Maggiore. Finally we arrive to "Via Duomo" (Cathedral Street) where is the Cathedral of Naples, seat for the Cardinal and for the Treasure of San Gennaro, the Patron Saint of the city. Many others monuments, churches and works of art are located in the old centre of Naples. Beyond the ones already mentioned, we suggest also: the Sansevero Chapel, with the statue of the Veiled Christ; the Brancaccio Chapel, with the low relief by Donatello; the Church and Monastery of San Lorenzo Maggiore, with the underlying excavations of the Greek and Roman city; the conventual complex of Girolamini, with the paintings by Luca Giordano, Pietro da Cortona and Guido Reni (among the maximum artists of Italian Baroque).
THE DUOMO OF NAPLES
The Duomo was built some time from 1294 to 1323. Down the side of the nave (the central aisle) are monuments to many former rulers and has paintings by Renaissance artists. Inside the Duomo you will find the grizzly remains of San Gennaro, who was martyred in the 305 CE. These include his head and vials with his preserved solid blood in it. Here it happens twice a year the Miracle of San Gennaro, when the Martyr's blood (saved into an ampulla) liquefies, announcing that there will be no calamities for Neapolitans. The actual construction belongs to the Angevin Age too, but here was a paleochristian basilica which had been enclosed into the new cathedral as a lateral chapel. The interiors had been changed during the XVII and XVIII century, but retain some previous chapels both from Gothic and Renaissance period, causing a much mixed style. The facade has been rebuilt at the end of XIX century following the neoclassical style, but the portals belong to the XV century and are decorated with statues of the XIV century.
"UNDERGROUND" NAPLES
Fourty meters below the characteristic and lively streets of the Historic Centre of Naples, you find a different world, unexplorated, isolated by time, but deeply connected with the world above. It is the heart of Naples, and the place from which the city was born. To visit it is to travel to the past, a world 2400 years old. Every historic epic, from the foundation of Neapolis, to the bombs of WWII, has left its mark on the walls of the yellow tufa stone, the soul of Naples, and the stone with which the city was built. Everyone knows Naples as a city of exceptional beauty, a city of art, but few know the underground reality of the city. Even many Neapolitans are unaware of the beauty that lies beneath. The "Associazione Napoli Sotterranea" (Underground Naples Association) preserves the underground area and brings this beauty to you. The underground caverns of Naples were born with the city and grew along with it over the years. The first excavation of the underground caves were done around 5000 years ago, near the end of the prehistoric era. The Greeks withdrew large quantities of the tufa stone that lies beneath to construct the city walls and the temples. They also excavated numerous areas to create a series of underground tombs. Enzo Albertini, the president of the Association, after many years of underground research, discovered, about 40 meters underneath the cemetary of "Santa Maria del Pianto", the cave from which stone was taken to construct the city walls of Ancient Naples. We know that the walls were built from the stone of this cave because we see the same designs in the caves that are on every block of the city walls. The remains of the city walls, built in the IV century BC, can be found in "Piazza Bellini" and on "Via Foria". The Romans continued to build in the Augustean Era a large aqueduct and underground tunnels that were used as streets to avoid climbing Mt. PiediGrotta. The names of the streets were Cocceio and Seiano.
In the early 1600's, the Greek-Roman aqueduct, with its numerous pluvial tanks, no longer brought enough water for the city's growing population. Until, in 1629, a very smart Neapolitan noble, Carmignano, built a new aqueduct. In the early 1900's, this aqueduct was no longer used, because newer and safer system of transporting water was created. These tanks and tunnels, spanning more than a million square meters in lenght, were then abandoned. In the beginning of WWII, military bombings brought once more an importance to the undeground area, whose tanks were then used as bomb shelters. Many of these cavities were closed because over the years, the underground area was used as a dumping ground for building debris lying on the surface. Naturally, this prevented us from displaying this cultural and historical treasure until now. The hidden theatre lies underneath a typical Neapolitan home. Papinio Stazio, in a letter to his wife, spoke of temples and a large square with porticos, probably the area of "Foro", and made explicit reference to two large theatres in the city. He spoke of an open one and a covered one, located in the upper part of the Foro, across from the sacred area of the Temple of Dioscuri. If you want to experience such presence it is enough to walk on "Via Anticaglia" where you can see two large archs that in the Roman era were structures to reinforce the external area of the Theatre. Going down into the underground area you can admire the marvels built from the imagination of the Ancient Romans. One can also understand the great size and structure of this theatre, which was one of the more important and open theatres of the time period.
The famous Emperor Nero performed here, presenting the operas that he composed in the city, the only remaining piece of the language and culture of the Ancient Greeks. The ancient writers say that nothing could interrupt the great Nero's song. Nero made his debut in Naples and while he sang the ground began to shake. Nero continued to sing during the earthquake and, at the end of the show, thanked both the audience and the Gods for their applause. He sang in Naples on various occasions and would rest in the Terme for days after the performances. Nero returned to Naples often saying that it was here that where he was baptised into the world of art. The entire population of the region of Naples, including all of the smaller cities and colonies, would come to see Nero perform in the city. It is said that they all followed Nero for his dignity as he led them into the grand Neapolitan Theatre. Nero never performed in Rome, saying that he preferred the almost Greek city of Naples.
ST. LUCIA AND CASTEL DELL'OVO
Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) is the name of that part of Naples promenade in front of "Castel dell'Ovo". Until the XVI century it was only a fishermen suburb, but in 1599 the Spanish Viceroy of Naples decided to transform it into a prestigious road: so he called to renovate that place the architect Domenico Fontana (who also built the Royal Palace). In the second half of the XIX century, they decided to advance the coastline until the current position and to build a new fishing suburb at the food of "Castel dell'Ovo", which today hosts a small tourist port with services, bars and restaurants. On the new waterfront of Saint Lucia are located the most exclusive and renowned hotels in the city of Naples.
"Castel dell'Ovo" (Egg's Castle) rises upon the islet of Megaride, in front of the small promontory of Monte Echia (also called Pizzofalcone), which divides the two small bays on the waterfront of Naples: the one of the harbour and the other of "Riviera di Chiaia" (Mergellina). The islet was the first settlement by Greek colonists coming from Pithecusa (on Ischia island) who also founded the old town of Partenope on Monte Echia, the earliest nucleus of Naples. During the I century BC the islet of Megaride became property of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who made built there his most magnificent villa. They remain very few signs of this legendary villa, because of the several constructions made in the following times upon it. After the death of Lucullus, the villa came under the Empire property and it was used as luxury prison for some exponents of the Emperor's family, during the numerous conspirations and succession fights for the trone of Rome. In 476 the Barbarian king Odoacre imprisoned there the last Emperor Romulus Augustus, ratifying the definitive fall of the West Roman Empire. After that, Naples had been a Byzantine duchy for some centuries, under formal domain by the East Roman Empire, but with a substantial independence. Then the islet of Megaride housed a friary of Basielus monks, dedicated to "Il Salvatore" (The Saviour). From that period they remain some tracks inside the Saviour's Chapel and in the so-called "Sala delle Colonne" (Columns' Hall), a refectory decorated with some columns taken by the underlying Roman villa. In 1140 the Normans occupied Naples and chose the blockhouse on the Saviour's Islet as their fortress and then royal palace, when they received from the Pope the authority to reign over Naples and the Southern Italy as a kingdom. So they enlarged the fort and built over it the high towers (the main one was called "Normandy") which had been for a long time the symbol of the military power in Naples. The Angevins, who replaced the Normans in the XIII century, used the fortress to house the Royal Treasure and the Financial Tribunal for collecting taxes. The Aragonese kept it as a military centre, but they pulled down the high Norman towers (by then not useful anymore, because of the development of artillery) and restructured it.
In 1495 the castle was bombed by Charles VIII from the outpost of Pizzofalcone, during his famous "descent into Italy" that swept away the small Italian states and opened the way to the sharing out of the peninsula between France and Spain. In 1503 the castle was occupied by Louis XII King of France, but in the same year it passed under the Spanish, who occupied Naples and will have ruled over there for two centuries. After the great damages received during the three subsequent besiegements, Castel dell'Ovo was completely rebuilt by the Spanish in the shapes we actually see, with the bastions adapted to underlying rocks, which were covered by walls until the sea surface. Castel dell'Ovo has always marked the political and historical changes in the city of Naples: in 1773 it was besieged and bombed by the Bourbons, who replaced the Austrians (who had been governing Naples after the Spaniards for about thirty years, during the war for the Spanish Succession). In 1799 it was occupied by the revolutionary Jacobins and then conquered again by the Cardinal Ruffo di Calabria, who guided the troops supporting the Bourbon's restoration. After the unification of Italy (and until 1963) the castle has been military centre for the Italian government. Recently Castel dell'Ovo received deep restorations that have highlighted numerous and important architectural episodes belonging to all periods along the history of Naples.
The inner and higher zone of the castle are reachable through the Norman Ramp, which is still today the main way of access. It is possible to visit only some areas of the castle, and particularly the panoramic terrace with the Catalan Loggia. The name "Castel dell'Ovo" (Egg's Castle) is derived from a medieval legend about the Latin poet Vergilius, at those times believed a wizard. According to this legend Vergilius, during his stay in Naples, hid a magic egg inside an amphora, which was put into an iron cage, that was hanged on the truss of a crypt under the castle: if that egg will ever have fallen and broken, this will have meant the ruin of the castle and of the entire city of Naples.
CARACCIOLO
Caracciolo Road is the promenade of Naples between Santa Lucia and Mergellina. The road is named after the Neapolitan admiral Francesco Caracciolo (1752-1799) who entered the Royal Bourbon Fleet and reached the highest degree. In 1799 Caracciolo joined to the Neapolitan Revolution and during the following repression he was sentenced to be hanged and then thrown into the sea. His dead body came to the surface again during the celebration for the restoration of monarchy, right under the king's nose. The king was so impressed that he ordered to recover and bury the dead man in a Christian spirit. His mortal remains are kept inside the Church of Santa Maria della Catena at Santa Lucia.
.jpg "Napoli - Harbour of Mergellina - Caracciolo")
Mergellina has been celebrated for centuries by poets, painters and musicians as one of the most beautiful places in Naples: here the humanist Jacopo Sannazzaro lived and composed his chief poem: the Arcadia, which was the prototype of all literary edens and describes the mythical Golden Age, when the man lived in harmony with nature. Nowadays Mergellina, deeply modified and absorbed into the fabric of the city, hosts the tourist port and the terminals for hydrofoils to the Gulf's islands. In the harbour there are also the fishing boats which provide with fresh fish the renowned fish shops of Mergellina. Piazza Vittoria (Victory Square, which divides Caracciolo Road from Santa Lucia) takes its name by the near Church of "Santa Maria della Vittoria (Our Lady of Victory), dedicated to the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and built in 1628 by the will of Lady Joanna, daughter of Don Juan of Austria, who was the chief commander of the christian fleet and won the battle. Caracciolo Road ends on the edge of this square, at the foot of the War Memorial for the Seamen, which consists of an high base with upon a Roman column, which was found at "Via dell'Anticaglia", in the old centre. Behind Caracciolo Road there is the "Villa Comunale" (Municipal Villa), a set of public gardens which extends for more than a kilometre between "Piazza della Vittoria" and "Piazza della Repubblica" (Republic Square, in the middle of Caracciolo promenade). It was built between 1778 and 1780 by the King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, who wanted to create on the promenade a meeting point for the enjoyment of Neapolitan aristocracy and called them the Royal Villa. The first set was opened in 1781 and was afterwards enlarged several times. The Naples' noblemen were so enthusiastic of the villa to call it pompously "Tugliera", Neapolitan version of the famous gardens of "Tuilieres" in Paris, made built by Louis XIV of France.
The first gardens of the Villa had been planned by Carlo Vanvitelli and carried out by the Royal Gardener Abate. Then they were completed during the first half of the XIX century. After joining the Italian State, their name changed into Municipal Villa. Inside the Villa there are several monuments by some Southern sculptors of the late 1800 and some fountains, among which the most famous is the "Fountain of Paperelle" so called because it hosted some geese ("papere" in neapolitan). It consists of a large monolithic basin of porphyry (a precious marble) which had been discovered at Paestum and kept since then inside the Cathedral of Salerno. Inside the Villa there is also the Zoological Station, founded in 1872 by the German naturalist Anton Dohrn, who organized it not only as a scholars' centre but also as a meeting point for intellectuals and artists. It houses the earliest Aquarium in Europe, designed exclusively for the study of fish species living in the Gulf of Naples. The Aquarium is located on the third floor of the building and it is open to the public. In the middle of Municipal Villa there is the Music Pavilion, built in 1877 with cast iron and glass, following the project by the architect Alvino. For many years this structure had been the attraction for the neapolitan middle class during the summer nights. Inside the pavilion the orchestra played and all around the audience took place and enjoyed the music, with the opportunity to meet and talk with other people. Behind the Municipal Villa it stretches the road of "Riviera di Chiaia", whose most representative building is the "Villa Pignatelli", that nowadays houses the Museum of Prince Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, after the donation to the Italian Government done in 1952 by Princess Rosina of Monteleone. Inside the Villa, which is preceded by a beautiful garden, there is a permanent showing of furniture from the XIX century and a space for temporary exhibitions. Here are performed also several concerts of chamber music.
VOMERO
Naples is dominated by the hill of Vomero, on whose top there are the Castle of Sant'Elmo and the Charterhouse of San Martino, where you can enjoy a wonderful panorama over the city and the whole bay of Naples. Those palaces, initially positioned on top of a desert and wooded area, are still partially surrounded by the greenery, which divide them from colored and variform buildings that climb on both sides of the hill. They were built by the Angevins, who changed deeply the city by the constructions of many important buildings, both ecclesiastical and civilian. Earlier nucleus of the castle was in 1275 a fortified residence named "Belforte" (Beautiful Fortress), where lived some relatives of Charles of Anjou. In 1329 Robert of Anjou decided to enlarge it, in harmony with the building of the Charterhouse started some years before. The Castle was named after the Saint to whom it was dedicated the hill, Sant'Erasmo. The actual name derives probably from a corruption of the first name, passing from Erasmo to Ermo and then Elmo. The Castle had been rebuilt in XVI century by the Spaniards, because of the new defence needs imposed by the development of the artillery. They built the new walls following a starlike plan, still visible nowadays. But just for its inexpugnability (and also for its peripheral position with regard to the centre of government), its original defensive function was turned into instrument of repression and control of internal opponents and it became a prison and centre of police forces. There they were imprisoned, among the others, the philosophere Tommaso Campanella and some leaders of the Neapolitan Revolution in 1799. The Castle of Sant'Elmo had received important restoration works, which began in 1976 and lasted 7 years. Those works gave back the original form to many of the interiors and paths, so that the castle nowadays acts as a suitable environment for art exhibitions and cultural events, which are hosted here very frequently. Furthermore it houses some important departments by the Bureau for Artistic and Historic Works. Today the Castle of Sant'Elmo offers a magnificent 360° panorama of Naples and its bay.
We must at least mention the "Villa Floridiana", a sumptuous building made by King Ferdinand I of Bourbon in 1817 for the residence of the Duchess of Floridia. She was his second wife and since Naples was a Catholic kingdom, she could neither receive the Queen title nor be accepted at the Royal Palace. When the Bourbon Monarchy ended, the Villa came under the property of the Italian Government and since 1927 it hosts the National Museum of Ceramics, with the private collection by the Duke of Martina, which belongs to the second half of the XIX century. All around the Villa there is a beautiful park, with grass and groves with small temples and fountains scattered over them. The park occupies part of the slope falling from Vomero hill towards the Riviera di Chiaia (the waterfront promenade between Santa Lucia and Mergellina) and there you can enjoy a beautiful panoramic view over the Gulf of Naples.
CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY, SAN MARTINO & NATIONAL MUSEUM
Magnificently situated on the grounds of the Castle of Sant'Elmo, the Charterhouse, dedicated to San Martino (Saint Martin), had been built by the Angevins under the guidance of the architect and sculptor Tino da Camaino, but it was deeply changed during the Spanish Viceroyalty and it became one of the most representative building of Neapolitan Baroque. They called for leading the works the Lombard architect Cosimo Fanzago, who became the chief protagonist of Baroque in Naples and who had been leading for more than 30 years the radical transformation of the palace, starting from the new facade and the sculpture decorations of the chapels, up to the rearrangement of the Large Cloister. They kept on doing the job also during the XVIII century, following his working plan and concluding in two centuries an extraordinary overlapping of interventions. The marble-clad church has a ceiling painting of the Ascension by Lanfranco in the nave along with 12 Prophets by Giuseppe Ribera. In the church treasury is Luca Giordano's ceiling fresco of the Triumph of Judith (1704) and Ribera's masterful "Descent from the Cross". The interiors of the Charterhouse host the National Museum, with some important collections of paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, cartographic maps, handmade works, ships models, art glasses, porcelains and an interesting section for the Manger Scenes (Christmas Crib, a traditional art of craftsmen in Naples). The most prestigious work in the Museum is probably the renowned "Tavola Strozzi" (Strozzi's Board) which is the first known depiction of Naples and belongs to the XIV century. But there is also a rich and important gallery of Neapolitan "Ottocento" (XIX century).
Open: Every day 08:30 am to 07:30 pm
Closed: Wednesday, 1st January, 25th December
Entrance Fee: € 6,00
Reduced: € 3,00 from 18 to 25 age and school teachers from the UE
Admittance free: Under 18 years old and over 65 from the UE
Phone: 039-081-5781769
CAPODIMONTE PARK
The Park of Capodimonte is the widest open space in Naples and it is on top of a small incline on north of the city. Inside the park there is the Royal Palace of Capodimonte, that houses one of the most important gallery in Italy with the paintings from the Farnese Collection. Inside the Palace there is also the rich Gallery of Ottocento and the Collection of Ceramics and Porcelain from the Royal Factory of Capodimonte. The construction of the Royal Palace of Capodimonte began in 1738 by will of Charles Bourbon, but it lasted long and was so complicated that twenty years later, when Charles moved to Madrid to be crowned as King of Spain, they had been completed only twelve halls, which already contained the most important pieces of the Collection and were visited by all the travellers of Grand Tour. The Royal Palace building finished only in the half of XIX century under Ferdinand II, when it was completed also the arrangement of the gardens and the woods. The Palace and the woods were initially separated by a road, and they entered the park through the "Porta di Mezzo" (Middle Doorway) from where the boulevards radiate off and go into the woods. The Park was initially a hunting reserve for the King and the Court. On its boundaries there were some cultivated area, with orchards and vegetable gardens, which were aimed to supply the Royal table with fruits and vegetables. During the XIX century the woods were gradually molded by introducing exotic species of plants and large "English gardens", in such a way to transform them into a Park. Among previous orchards, it remains only the "Giardino Torre" (Tower Garden) at the north-east corner of the woods. While the north side of the park is all covered by the woods (and while walking there you will certainly forget to be inside a metropolis), the south side near the Royal Palace is much like gardens and from there you see the panorama of the city and the Gulf of Naples. This place was at that time called "Sight of Naples" and it has been depicted by many landscape painters of the XVIII and XIX century.
In its middle there is the beautiful Fountain of Belvedere, with an ancient marble group that was situated before in the fountain of the Royal Orchard inside the Tower Garden. Inside the park, beyond the Royal Palace, there are also other buildings: the Royal Factory of Porcelain, that had been active from 1743 to 1771 (when it was moved into the Royal Palace of Portici) and that nowadays houses a school of ceramics; the Church of San Gennaro, intended to give religious aid to the numerous colony of workers who lived in the park; the "Casina dei Principi" (Princes' Little House), built in 1828 as an outbuilding for the king's children; the "Casina della Regina" (Queen's Little House) from 1840, initially built for the Queen Mother but turned to house for court and private parties; the Hermitage of Capuchins from 1819, that nowadays hosts a primary school.
NATIONAL MUSEUM & GALLERY OF THE CAPODIMONTE
This museum and gallery, one of Italy's finest, are housed in the XVIII-century Capodimonte Palace, built in the time of Charles III and set in a park. The entire museum has many equisic artifacts, including the State Apartments downstairs. Room after room is devoted to gilded mermaids, Venetian sedan chairs, ivory carvings, a porcelain chinoiserie salon, tapestries, a large glass and china collection and the Farnese Collection.
The Farnese Collection, which counts among its masterpieces several works by first-class artists as Botticelli, Raffaello, Tiziano and Correggio, had been started at the beginning of XVI century by the Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who became Pope in 1534 assuming the name of Paolo III and transformed his family into a powerful political subject, that ruled also over the Duchy of Parma. The pieces were conserved at the Farnese Palace in Rome (nowadays it houses the French Embassy) inside the famous gallery painted by the Carracci Brothers during the first years of XVII century. Fifty years later the Farnese family began to lose power in Rome and the collection was transfered to Parma, whose duchy passed as a dowry to the Bourbon family when Philip V King of Spain married Elizabeth (the last heir of the Farnese) in 1724, during the Spanish Succession War. His son Charles moved the collection to Naples when he gained that kingdom, after the brief Austrian domination.
Open: Every day 08:30 am to 07:30 pm
Closed: Wednesday, 1st January, 25th December
Entrance Fee: € 7,50
Reduced: € 3,75 from 18 to 25 age and school teachers from the UE
Admittance free: Under 18 years old and over 65 from the UE
Afternoon: € 6,50
Phone: 039-081-7499111
CAPE POSILLIPO
Posillipo is the headland of uncommon beauty that closes on the west the city of Naples and divides the bay in front of Naples from that one of Pozzuoli. Its yellow tufa walls rise steep from the sea but it slopes down gradually to the city, so that it offers a fascinating combination of multiform panoramic vistas over the coast, which have always attracted big names in nobility and arts, who came here to build their villas or to be inspired by the landscape. The name comes from the ancient Greek "Pausylipon", that signifies "pause from pain" and it was the name of the sumptuous Roman villa built upon Cape Posillipo. They remain from that villa some ruins of the theatre, the Odeon, the thermal baths and of a nymphaeum. The villa was owned by Publius Vedius Pollione, one of the main supporters of the emperor Octavian Augustus and who played a leading role in the transition from the Roman Republic to the Empire. On his death the villa passed under the emperor's property and it became one of the most beautiful and rich imperial villas ever known. The Pausylipon Villa extended between Marechiaro and Nisida, which are today the limits of a protected area: the "Natural Park of the Gaiola", from the name of the islets in the middle of this area, on the south extremity of the promontory. Marechiaro is a delighting seafaring suburb that faces the middle of the Gulf of Naples, with the Vesuvius and the Sorrento peninsula in the background. Behind the village there is the small and characteristic Church of "Santa Maria del Faro" (Our Lady of the Lighthouse), which contains some remains of the Roman villa. The tradition says it had been built upon the place where it was the ancient beacon tower by the Romans.
Nisida is an islet of volcanic origin which is located in front of Posillipo, on the side that faces the "Campi Flegrei" (Phlaegrean Fields), called Coroglio, and from which it is connected by a isthmus 300 meters long. During the Roman Age it was a privileged place: inside a villa on Nisida it was the headquarter of Brutus and Cassius when they organized the conspiracy against Ceasar and the following fights. During the Middle Ages it was used initially by the Queen Joanna of Anjou and then by the Dukes of Amalfi as a resting place. It was a hunting reserve for Murat and when the Bourbons came it was transformed into a penal colony. Still today it is the location of the Juvenile Prison, even if they are trying to stimulate also a new touristic function. But the most panoramic point of Posillipo is the "Parco Vergiliano" (Vergilius' Park) on the top of the hill. There, among trees and sports structures, your gaze can sweep the whole Gulf of Naples and over the Phlaegrean Fields. This panorama was so magnificent that it inspired the artistic production of a whole generation of landscape painters from the XIX century, who were known for the label of "Scuola di Posillipo" (Posillipo School) and gave a huge contribution to spread over the European aristocracy the myth of the natural beauties of Naples and its gulf. Behind the Posillipo hill (and at the beginning of Phlaegrean Fields) there is finally the seafront of Bagnoli, the extreme edge of Naples on the west, which is today interested by an imposing project of recovery and reconversion, intented to give it back the extraordinary beauty it had before they installed here a foundry, during the years of industrialization and of the Italian boom. In some buildings of the old foundry it is located now the "Città della Scienza" (City of the Science), an effort to renovate the traditional idea of museum and mainly addressed to the students, in order to introduce them to new technologies.
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF NAPLES
Since 1777 the archaeological finds from excavations in Pompeii and Herculaneum have been arranged in the late XVI century building. Mosaics, statues, murals, musical and surgical instruments and more fill the collection at Italy's most extensive collection of ancient artifacts.
Open: Every day 09:00 am to 08:00 pm (entry actually allowed 07:00 pm)
Closed: Tuesday, 1st January, 25th December
Entrance Fee: € 6,50
Reduced: € 3,25 from 18 to 25 age and school teachers
Admittance free: Under 18 years and over 65 from the UE and reciprocally conventioned countries; students of some university faculties
Cumulative ticket: € 8,50 (valid for 3 days) including visit to the Museums, monuments and archaeological areas of the "Campi Flegrei"
Phone: 039-081-440166
+39 347 6708101
