Naples is the capital city of the Campania region in Italy and the largest city in Southern Italy.
It was founded between the 7th and 6th centuries BC by the Greeks and was named
Neapolis, which means new city. Because of its vast artistic heritage, the historic centre of
Naples has earned the UNESCO World Heritage Site denomination. Its territory,
particularly the iconic sight of the gulf of Naples, along with the colorful folklore (the pizza,
the celebrated Mount Vesuvius, the music) is recognized abroad as on of the most
powerful symbolic images of Italy. However, many Neapolitans do reject such
stereotypical portrayal.
Both Naples and the locally Italian Napoli are acceptable; either way, it's a derivative of the
ancient Greek name Neapolis, which means new city. The Greeks first established the
city and inhabited the region long before Roman times.
The official
language of Naples (as of all of Italy) is Italian and practically everyone speaks it.
Neapolitan has strong Spanish and French influences originating from the their
occupation in the area. Therefore, some Spanish and French words may be understood
by the locals, more so than in other parts of Italy. English is the most commonly spoken
foreign language, although the average knowledge of English is extremely low.
The city is everywhere in the world synonymous with organized crime and other
widespread problems. However it is also known for pizza, originating in it. A strong part of
Neapolitan culture which has had wide reaching effects is music, including the invention
of the romantic guitar and the mandolin as well as strong contributions to opera and folk
standards. There are popular characters and figures who have come to symbolise
Naples, this includes patron saint of the city Januarius, Pulcinella and the Sirens from
epic Greek poem the Odyssey.
In the area surrounding Naples are the islands of Procida, Capri and Ischia, which are
reached by hydrofoils and ferries. Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are situated south of
Naples. The Roman ruins of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae, which were destroyed
in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, are also nearby. Naples is also near the volcanic
area known as the Campi Flegrei and the port towns of Pozzuoli and Baia, which were
part of the vast Roman naval facility, Portus Julius
PLACE TO VISIT
Piazza Plebiscito - is the largest square in Naples. It is named for the plebiscite taken in 1860 that brought Naples into the unified Kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoy. it is bounded on the east by the Royal Palace and on the west by the church of San Francesco di Paola with the colonnades extending to both sides.
Royal Palace - is a palace in Naples, southern Italy. It is one of the four residences used by the Bourbon Kings of Naples during their rule of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies (1730-1860): one is in Caserta, another on the Capodimonte hill overlooking Naples, and the third (now the site of the agricultural department of the University of Naples) is in Portici on the slopes of Vesuvius.
The Royal Palace is on the site of an earlier building meant to host King Philip III of Spain,
who however never made the trip. The architect chosen for that palace was Domenico
Fontana. The building was put up on the site of an even older Spanish viceroyal residence
from the early 16th century. The royal residence was moved to Caserta in the 18th entury,
as that inland town was more defensible from naval assault than Naples.
San Francesco di Paola - is a church in Naples, southern Italy. It is located at the west side of Piazza del Plebiscito, the city's main square.
In the early 19th century, King Joachim Murat of Naples (Napoleon's brother-in-law)
planned the entire square and the large building with the colonnades as a tribute to the
emperor. When Napoleon was finally dispatched, the Bourbons were restored to the
throne of Naples. Ferdinand I continued the construction - finished in 1816 - but onverted
the final product into the church one sees today. He dedicated it to Saint Francis of Paola,
who had stayed in a monastery on this site in the 16th century.
The Teatro di San Carlo - is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe. Teatro di San Carlo is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Galleria Umberto - is a public gallery in Naples, southern Italy. It is located directly across from the San Carlo opera house. It was built between 1887-1891, and was the cornerstone in the decades-long rebuilding of Naples--called the risanamento (lit. "making healthy again") — that lasted until World War I. It was designed by Emanuele Rocco, who employed modern architectural elements reminiscent of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. The Galleria was named for Umberto I, King of Italy at the time of construction. It was meant to combine businesses, shops, cafes and social life — public space — with private space in the apartments on the third floor.
Castel Nuovo - often called Maschio Angioino, is a castle in the city of Naples, southern Italy. It is the main symbol of the architecture of the city. Castel Nuovo has been expanded or renovated several times since it was first begun in 1279. Before the accession of Charles I of Anjou to the throne in 1266, the capital of the Kingdom of Naples was Palermo. There was a royal residence in Naples, at the Castel Capuano. However, when the capital was moved to Naples, Charles ordered a new castle, not far from the sea, built to house the court. Works, directed by French architects, began in 1279 and were completed three years later.
Castel dell'Ovo - is a castle in the Italian city of Naples. The edifice is located on a small island, the Megarides, where colonists from Cumae founded the original nucleus of the city in the 6th century BCE. In the 1st century BCE the Roman patrician Lucius Licinius Lucullus built a magnificent villa Castellum Lucullanum on the site. Fortified by Valentinian III in the early 5th century, it was the place where the last western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was exiled in by Odoacer in 476. Eugippius founded a monastery on the site after 492.
Sant'Elmo - is the name of both a hill and a fortress in Naples, located near the Certosa di San Martino. Together, the structures overlook Naples and are the most visible landmarks in the city. The name "Sant'Elmo" is from an old 10th-century church, Sant'Erasmo, that name being shortened to "Ermo" and, finally, "Elmo".
The fortress was started in 1329 under Robert of Anjou and completed in 1343, the year
of his death. Pedro Alvarez de Toledo, the Spanish viceroy, had the fortress rebuilt
between 1537 and 1546. The fortress is a star-shaped castle with six ramparts. During
the revolution of 1647, so-called “Masaniello’s Revolt”, the Spanish viceroy took refuge in
the fortress to escape the revolutionaries. Sant’Elmo was also the symbol of the short
period of the Neapolitan Republic of 1799.
The Naples National Archaeological Museum - is one of the main museums, considered one of the most important for artifacts of the Roman Empire in the world. It also hosts many of the ruins unearthed at Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as some artifacts from the Greek and Renaissance periods.
Museo di Capodimonte - is probably the most important in Naples. The art gallery features paintings from the 13th to the 18th century including major works by Simone Martini, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, El Greco and many others, including Neapolitan School painters Jusepe de Ribera and Luca Giordano. The royal apartments are furnished with antique 18th century furniture and a collection of porcelain and majolica from the various royal residences: the famous Capodimonte Porcelain Factory was just adjacent to the palace.
Certosa di San Martino - was formerly a monastery complex but is now a museum and remains one of the most visible landmarks of Naples. Displayed within the museum are Spanish and Bourbon-era artifacts, as well as displays of the nativity scene, considered to be among the finest in the world
Pietrarsa railway museum - is located in the city: Naples has a proud railway history and the museum features, amongst many other things, the Bayard, the first locomotive in the Italian peninsula
The Villa Pignatelli - is a museum in Naples in southern Italy. The villa is perhaps
the most striking building along the Riviera di Chiaia, the road bounding the north side of
the Villa Comunale on the sea front between Mergellina and Piazza Vittoria. It was built at
the behest of Ferdinand Acton in 1826 as a neo-classical residence that would be the
centerpiece of a park. The central atrium was moved to the front of the building and Doric
columns still catch the eye of the viewer from the street 50 yards (46 m) away. The
property has changed hands since construction. It was bought in 1841 by Carl Mayer von
Rothschild of the German family of financiers; then in 1867 it passed to the Duke of
Monteleone, Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, whose widow then willed it to the Italian
state in 1952. The villa maintains intact the gardens in front of the building and houses a
coach museum and a collection of French and English vehicles from the 18th and 19th
centuries.
Palazzo Como - is a museum in Naples, southern Italy. Its Renaissance ashlar facade opens to Via Duomo, just north of the intersection of Corso Umberto, the boulevard that runs through the downtown area.
It was built between 1464 and 1490 by Tuscan artisans for the Neapolitan merchant
Angelo Como, a favorite at the Aragonese court. The building is, thus, known as Palazzo
Como. It was sold in 1587 and was incorporated into an adjacent monastery. In 1881-82,
because of the demolition and construction during the urban renewal of Naples, the entire
building was dismantled and moved back some 20 meters. Since that date, the building
has housed the Filangieri Museum. The museum displays an assortment of arms,
porcelain and period costumes. The museum is closed for repairs and many of the
exhibits are temporarily on display in the Maschio Angioino.
The Cathedral of Naples - is the main church of Naples, southern Italy. It is dedicated to San Gennaro (St. Januarius), the city's patron. The church houses a vial of the Saint's blood that is brought out twice a year, on the first Saturday in May and 19 September, and usually liquefies. According to legend if the blood should fail to liquefy, then something bad will happen to Naples.
Santa Chiara - is a religious complex in Naples, southern Italy, that includes the Church of Santa Chiara, a monastery, tombs and an archeological museum.
San Domenico Maggiore - located in the square with the same name. The square is one of the most interesting in Naples and is on the street popularly called "Spaccanapoli" (namely via Benedetto Croce at this particular section of its considerable length) in the historic center of Naples. It was one of the three main east-west streets of the original Greek city of Neapolis.
Church of Gesù Nuovo - was originally a palace built in 1470 for Roberto Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno. The Jesuits had alread built a church in Naples, now called Gesú Vecchio. Political intrigues caused the property to be confiscated, and eventually sold in the 1580s to the Jesuits for 45,000 ducats to construct a church (1584 - 1601) under architect Giuseppe Valeriano. When the Jesuits were expelled from Naples in 1767, the church passed to the Franciscan order. The Jesuits returned in 1821.
Cappella Sansevero - is a chapel north of the church of San Domenico Maggiore,
in the historic center of Naples, Italy. The chapel is more properly named the Chapel of
Santa Maria della Pietà, or the Pietatella. Its origin dates to 1590 when the Sansevero
family had a private chapel built in what were then the gardens of the nearby family
residence, the Palazzo Sansevero. Definitive form was given to the chapel by Raimondo di
Sangro, Prince of Sansevero.
San Lorenzo Maggiore - is located at the precise geographic center of the historic center of the ancient Greco-Roman city, at the intersection of via San Gregorio Armeno and via dei Tribunali . The name "San Lorenzo" may also refer to the new museum now opened on the premises, as well as to the Roman archaeological site beneath the church itself.
Santa Donna Regina Vecchia - is a church in Naples, in southern Italy. It is called Vecchia to distinguish it from the newer and adjacent church of Santa Maria Donna Regina Nuova.
Santa Maria Donna Regina Nuova - is a church in Naples, in southern Italy. It is called Nuova to distinguish it from the older church of Santa Maria Donna Regina Vecchia.
San Pietro a Maiella - is a church in Naples, Italy. The term may also refer to the
adjacent Naples music conservatory, which occupies the premises of the monastery that
used to form a single complex with the church.
The Archbishops Palace - is a building in Naples, Italy. It is the official residence of the Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal of Naples (as of May, 2006--Crescenzio Cardinal Sepe). The building is located on the square largo Donna Regina one block north of the Cathedral of Naples directly across from the church of Donna Regina Nuova. Together, the cathedral and the Archbishops Palace form a vast, connected complex.
The Hermitage of Camaldoli - is a monastery near Naples, Campania, Italy. One of the monasteries still active in the region, it sits on the hill in back of Naples at the highest point in the city, between Vesuvius and the Phlegrean Fields. It was built in 1585 by the Camaldolese congregation of Montecorona on the site of an earlier church. The large altar in the church is the work of Cosimo Fanzago, and there are numerous prized paintings by such artists as Francesco Francanzano and Giordano. Part of the monastery is open to the public, who may occasionally visit the gardens overlooking the city to the south.
Spires of Naples - are three monument columns in the historic center of the city of
Naples. The term "plague column" is commonly used in English for such structures since
in many places in Europe such columns were built to celebrate the end of—or deliverance
from—the plague. They were common in the Catholic countries of Europe especially in
the 17th and 18th centuries, when their ornateness became one of the most visible
features of Baroque architecture.
The Santissima Annunziata - is a church in Naples in southern Italy. The Annunziata's origins goes back to 1320 and has always been, in one form or another, an orphanage. By the mid 17th century, it was a full-fledged home, church, hospital, and school for such children. In the 1750s, under Charles III, the entire premises were remodeled by a team of architects that included Ferdinando Fuga, who also built the giant Royal Hospice for the Poor, and Luigi Vanvitelli. The façade of the church is by Vanvitelli, as is the dome. The church interior is highly ornamental and includes works by Giuseppe Sanmartino, the sculptor of the famed Veiled Christ within the Sansevero Chapel.
Santa Caterina a Formiello - is a church in Naples, in southern Italy, located at
the extreme eastern end of the old historic center of the city, near the gate called Porta
Capuana. It was founded about 1510, completed in 1593, and dedicated to the virgin
martyr of Alexandria. It constituted an important part of an ancient convent that originally
belonged to the Celestine order and which passed to the Domenican fathers after 1498.
They kept it until the 19th century, when it became used as a wool factory. Exceptional
frescoes by Luigi Garzi from 1685 and various 16th century funeral monuments are kept
within the church. The church has a single-aisle Latin cross interior covered by a barrel
vault with five chapels on either side.
San Gennaro extra Moenia - is located on the large road that leads up to the
Capodimonte museum and is an example of so-called paleo-Christian architecture in the
city.
The foundation of the church is connected with the Catacombs of San Gennaro, the
largest Christian catacomb complex in southern Italy. The first structure was probably the
result of the fusion of two ancient burial sites, one from the 2nd century CE that contained
the remains of Saint Agrippinus of Naples, the first patron saint of Naples, and the site
from the 4th century CE that contained the remains of San Gennaro, the now traditional
patron saint of the city.
San Pietro Martire - is located directly across from the principal building of the University of Naples on the main street, Corso Umberto, in the downtown area.
The church belongs to the first wave of construction under the Angevin dynasty in Naples,
which includes better-known structures such as the Maschio Angioino. Construction on
San Pietro Martire was started in 1294 under Charles II of Anjou to provide a facility for the
Dominican Order; the church and adjacent monastery premises were finished by 1343.
Between 1400 and 1500 the premises were expanded considerably to allow for a larger
contingent of monks than the original dozen.
Santa Restituta - dedicated to Saint Restituta. It is the original 6th-century paleo-
Christian church on the site where the Cathedral of Naples now stands, and was rebuilt
and incorporated into the cathedral when that building was put up in the 13th century.
Santa Maria la Nova - is located on the site given to the Franciscan order in 1279 when Charles of Anjou decided to build his Castel Nuovo (new castle), or Maschio Angioino, on the grounds of the order's original monastery, whence the name Nova
Running beneath Naples and the surrounding area is an underground geothermal zone called the "Campi Flegrei" ("fiery fields"). This geothermal area runs generally from Mount Vesuvius beneath a wide area including Pompei, Herculaneum, Naples and over to Pozzuoli and the coastal Baia area. Mining and various infrastructure projects during several millennia have formed extensive caves and underground structures in the zone.
Piazza Dante - is a large public square in Naples, Italy, named for the poet Dante
Alighieri. The square is dominated by a 19th-century statue of the poet, sculpted by Tito
Angelini. Originally, the square was called, simply, Largo del Mercatello (Market Square).
In 1765, it was rechristened "Foro Carolina," after the wife of the King of Naples. At that
time, the original square was modified by architect Luigi Vanvitelli. Modifications included
the construction of an ornate semicircular arrangement of columns and statues that now
look down on the square. They now mark the western side of a boarding-school named
for Victor Emanuel II. Vanvitelli, with his changes, essentially converted what had been the
rear of a large, prexisting and ancient monastery into the front of the "new" structure.
Piazza dei Martiri - is a monument square in Naples located one block north of the
eastern end of the large seaside park known as the Villa Comunale. The square was
originally dedicated to Santa Maria a Cappella, but took on patriotic significance when Italy
was united in 1860. A memorial column was erected in 1866 and four lions were added
at the base. Each of the four animals represents a different patriotic struggle: the
Neapolitan revolution of 1799; the uprisings in 1820 and 1848, and the war of unification
in 1860.
San Gennaro dei Poveri - is a hospital for the poor which is still in existence today. It was a forerunner of a much more ambitious project, the gigantic Bourbon Hospice for the Poor started by Charles III. This was for the destitute and ill of the city; it also provided a self-sufficient community where the poor would live and work. Today it is no longer a hospital
Villa Comunale - previously known as the Royal Garden as its building was ordered by Bourbon king Ferdinand IV in the 1780s
Parco Virgiliano - is a scenic park located in Posillipo, Naples, often confused with the Parco Vergiliano, also in Naples.
It is accessed from Viale Virgil by a monumental entrance, which leads to a spiazzale with
a recently constructed, cascading fountain. The park is built with a series of terraces
overlooking the Gulf. Uniquely, it is possible to see all parts of the Bay of Naples, which
cannot be seen from other viewpoints.
HOW TO REACH
By plane - The International Airport is Capodichino . It's well organized and connected
to the Center of the City with public transportation.
From the airport you can take a bus for 3 euros (called Alibus) to Stazione Centrale. It also stops on Piazza Municipio near the ferry port. You can buy your ticket on the bus.
If you have time to spare, you can take the 3S bus that will take you to the same stops as
the Alibus for a cheaper price. The difference is that the Alibus has limited stops but the
3S will take you to the backstreets leading to the Stazione continuing all the way to the port
and a shopping district.
By train - The main station is Piazza Garibaldi Station (Napoli Centrale). The bus R3
from the Piazza Garibaldi in front of the train station will take you within three blocks of the
ferries at Stazione Marittima. Other stations include Mergellina, a small, nice old building,
and Campi Flegrei.
By boat - Cruise ships dock at Stazione Marittima, a large terminal located right in the
city center, near Piazza Municipio.
MedMar Group operates several large ferry/passenger ships that connect Naples with
Sardinia (Olbia), Corsica (Porto-Vecchio), Tunisia (Tunis), and the Aeolian Islands. These
trips usually leave in the late afternoon or evening and arrive at their destination the next
morning.
Tirrenia Navigazione operates an overnight ferry service that has two separate routes, one
to Sardinia (Cagliari) and the other to Sicily (Palermo).
By car - Naples is directly connected with Rome by the A1 highway, and the trip takes
generally less than 2 hours. Due to traffic jam and parking shortage in city center, it's
advisable to leave your car in a parking lot near the motorway exit or your accommodation,
and to use public transportation to get around the city.
By bus - Many national and international private bus services operate in Naples, generally stopping at Piazza Garibaldi or Piazza Municipio.
