Spaccanapoli
Usually called Decumano Inferiore, Spaccanapoli is a linear tour, more than one kilometre long, and it divides the ancient city into North and South.
The walk starts from Quartieri Spagnoli and ends in Forcella. It is a treasure of history and stories among old buildings and churches, such as Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo, Basilica di Santa Chiara and Chiesa di San Domenico Maggiore. It’s a place full of vitality and passion: from the street artists to the historical shops of craftsmen, from the city legends and myths to the unique smells of Neapolitan cuisine.
Cappella San Severo
There is an esoteric, alchemical, masonic Naples creeping in hidden under the colour and the folklore of a postcard. For those who would like to give a try to it near Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, Cappella Sansevero is the ideal place.
Full of symbolism and precious works, this place reflects the charm and the dark creativity of Prince Raimondo di Sangro, who expanded and enriched it. It’s worth coming in: here you can admire Cristo Velato, marble masterpiece by Giuseppe Sanmartino, and the Anatomical Machines which are a deep mystery as for their creation.
Spaccanapoli
Usually called Decumano Inferiore, Spaccanapoli is a linear tour, more than one kilometre long, and it divides the ancient city into North and South.
The walk starts from Quartieri Spagnoli and ends in Forcella. It is a treasure of history and stories among old buildings and churches, such as Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo, Basilica di Santa Chiara and Chiesa di San Domenico Maggiore. It’s a place full of vitality and passion: from the street artists to the historical shops of craftsmen, from the city legends and myths to the unique smells of Neapolitan cuisine.
Piazza del Plebiscito
Royals of all times and blazons guard it: the Normans, the Swabians, the Angioins, the Habsburgs, the Bourbons, the Savoys, sculpted in Royal Palace statues. It’s the arena of the great concerts, but also of urchins flaunting their soccer talent and dreaming of the Golden Ball in the shadow of the bronze horses.
Set of a multi-ethnic landscape going from Via Toledo to the sea, Piazza Plebiscito falls within the symbols of Naples legitimately, as well as Palazzo Reale. Piazza Plebiscito is 25000 sq. m. of beauty, surrounded by columns and the Basilica di San Francesco di Paola, a few metres from other jewels: Galleria Umberto I, San Carlo Theatre and Maschio Angioino.
Naples underground
Naples underground peeps out from Piazza San Gaetano. The descent to the “underground city” begins here in the heart of the historical centre, just before Via dei Tribunali.
150 steps and 40 metres downward, like in a trip back to the past from the Second World War to the Roman Empire. Tunnels, very narrow corridors, tanks which were digged for water supply till the beginning of the twentieth century, these all unknot through the tuff caves for many metres. The war changed their use: the hidden Naples provided the people with a shelter from bombings.
Capodimonte
Planted on the hill of the same name in a 120 hectares oasis, the magnificent Reggia di Capodimonte looks on to Naples. Early summer residence of Bourbons, but “safe” of the royal family treasures from the word go, today it guards an extraordinary heritage of paintings including
some by Raffaello, Tiziano, Bellini, Mantegna, together with Galleria Farnese, d’Avalos Collection, the gallery of porcelains, the room of tapestries, plus an entire wing dedicated to the nineteenth century and one to contemporary art.
