Outstanding Sights of Naples

The city of Naples is one of the most unusu­al in Italy. For cen­turies, these places have been the cen­ter of impor­tant his­tor­i­cal events that have left a mark on the sights of Naples. The most famous land­mark of the city is Mount Vesu­vius, which once com­plete­ly destroyed the ancient city of Pom­peii. I sug­gest you take a vir­tu­al tour of the most beau­ti­ful places in Naples, which will be of inter­est dur­ing your city tour.

National Museum of Archeology

The Nation­al Muse­um of Arche­ol­o­gy in Naples is famous for its exhi­bi­tion of his­tor­i­cal finds dis­cov­ered dur­ing exca­va­tions at the foot of Vesu­vius. As you know, in the sev­en­ty-ninth year of our era, one of the dead­liest erup­tions of Vesu­vius in his­to­ry occurred, com­plete­ly wip­ing sev­er­al cities off the face of the earth. The largest of them was Pom­peii, whose remains were dis­cov­ered by researchers only cen­turies lat­er. Dur­ing the exca­va­tions, many arti­facts were found that were per­fect­ly pre­served under a lay­er of vol­canic lava. A spe­cial place in the expo­si­tion of the Nation­al Archae­o­log­i­cal Muse­um is occu­pied by a col­lec­tion of fres­coes and mosaics, includ­ing the leg­endary Wheel of For­tune. The expo­si­tion with sculp­tures is also impres­sive, among which you will sure­ly rec­og­nize Pal­las Athena and the giant stat­ue of Her­cules in the Far­nese bull com­po­si­tion. Many will be inter­est­ed in a series of ancient coins, glad­i­a­to­r­i­al weapons and armor, ivory prod­ucts and even the craft of glass­blow­ers. These are the sights of Naples that are worth a vis­it to every­one with­out excep­tion. A vis­it to the muse­um will help you get to know the his­to­ry of the city in the best pos­si­ble way.

Santa Chiara

While explor­ing the sights of Naples, you should def­i­nite­ly vis­it San­ta Chiara. Built in the four­teenth cen­tu­ry, the com­plex con­sists of a church, tombs and includes a small muse­um in hon­or of St. Clara, respect­ed by the Ital­ians. Dur­ing the tour, you can explore the pic­turesque inte­ri­ors of the monastery and relax in a cozy court­yard, while explor­ing the mag­nif­i­cent work of medieval builders. The mas­ters recre­at­ed on the tiles a num­ber of inter­est­ing events in the his­to­ry of the city, reflect­ing the impor­tant myths and leg­ends of Naples. San­ta Chiara is pop­u­lar among lovers and new­ly­weds, as there is a belief that every­one who gets mar­ried in this place will have a hap­py life togeth­er.

Gallery Umberto I

For shop­ping lovers, Naples also has a num­ber of inter­est­ing places to offer. In the very cen­ter of the city there is a chic shop­ping cen­ter — Umber­to I Gallery. The pas­sage was built in the nine­teenth cen­tu­ry and named after King Umber­to I. In essence, the gallery includes 2 inter­sect­ing streets cov­ered with a giant glass dome. Even the floor of the pas­sage is a work of art thanks to the mosa­ic depict­ing the wind rose and the signs of the Zodi­ac. Lux­u­ry shops and restau­rants of world famous chains are con­cen­trat­ed here. Thanks to the spe­cial acoustics, sym­pho­ny con­certs and shows are often held in the gallery. This is the attrac­tion of Naples, which every guest of the city seeks to vis­it.

Castle of Saint Elmo

A pop­u­lar attrac­tion in Naples is the cas­tle of San­t’El­mo. He perched on the hill Vomero, which is the high­est mark of the city. The fortress exist­ed here as ear­ly as the four­teenth cen­tu­ry, hav­ing received its name from the ancient church. In the entire his­to­ry of hos­til­i­ties, the fortress was nev­er tak­en, and in the 18th cen­tu­ry Sant Elmo became a prison. But times are chang­ing and today the cas­tle is a great place to watch the sights of the city. The obser­va­tion plat­form allows tourists to enjoy the his­tor­i­cal cen­ter of Naples and the for­mi­da­ble Vesu­vius. A funic­u­lar line leads to the high­est point of the hill, but you can also climb on foot. Such a tour to the cas­tle will def­i­nite­ly be remem­bered for a life­time.

Castle of Castel dell’Ovo

Italy is famous for its his­toric cas­tles, and Naples is no excep­tion. The pop­u­lar cas­tle of Cas­tel del­l’O­vo, or the cas­tle of Eggs, is con­sid­ered the old­est defense com­plex in Naples. Its his­to­ry dates back to the twelfth cen­tu­ry, when the first cas­tle appeared on the ruins of an ancient Chris­t­ian monastery. The locals called the build­ing in this way, since the shape of the cas­tle resem­bles an egg. There is a leg­end that the ancient Roman poet Vir­gil hid a mag­ic egg in the dun­geon of Cas­tel del­l’O­vo, pro­tect­ing the city to this day. For cen­turies, the Kings lived here, the Trea­sury of Naples was locat­ed, as well as oth­er pub­lic ser­vices. Today, there is the Cas­tel del­l’o­vo Muse­um with an exhi­bi­tion that tells about the his­to­ry of the cas­tle. Here you will find works by famous Ital­ian artists, includ­ing Tit­ian.

Castle Nuovo

Among the pop­u­lar attrac­tions of Naples, there is anoth­er out­stand­ing cas­tle — Cas­tel Nuo­vo. The name trans­lates as New Cas­tle, which car­ries a cer­tain mean­ing. The fortress ris­es on the shores of the Gulf of Naples. It was built at the end of the 18th cen­tu­ry by King Charles of Anjou. Dur­ing this peri­od, the cap­i­tal of the king­dom was moved from Paler­mo to Naples, and Nuo­vo became the main cen­ter of the res­i­dence of the king. An impreg­nable fortress with pow­er­ful stone walls and guard tow­ers was built. The majes­tic pow­er of Cas­tel Nuo­vo makes an indeli­ble impres­sion on numer­ous tourists. The best way to vis­it the cas­tle is with a guid­ed tour that cov­ers the rooms of the roy­al fam­i­ly, the hall of the barons and a num­ber of oth­er impor­tant rooms. Don’t for­get to vis­it the Nuo­vo Muse­um, which is entire­ly ded­i­cat­ed to the his­to­ry of the city. Here you can explore a series of paint­ings, mosaics and stat­ues from the medieval peri­od.

Chapel of San Severo in Naples

The Chapel of San Severo can be attrib­uted to the reli­gious mon­u­ments of the city. Since its found­ing in the six­teenth cen­tu­ry, the Chapel belonged to the Neapoli­tan San­gra dynasty. In the mid­dle of the 18th cen­tu­ry, a large-scale recon­struc­tion was car­ried out, in which the best mas­ters from all over Italy took part. The true dec­o­ra­tion of this attrac­tion of Naples is the mar­ble sculp­ture “Christ under the Shroud”, for which trav­el­ers come here. Also inter­est­ing are the stat­ues and tomb­stones, each of which refers to one or anoth­er human virtue. Today, San Severo is a muse­um, but despite this sta­tus, the atmos­phere of bygone times has been pre­served here to this day.

Cathedral of Saint Janauria

The his­toric cen­ter of Naples has con­cen­trat­ed the largest num­ber of inter­est­ing sights. Its true gem is the Cathe­dral of St. Jan­u­ar­ius, as the bright­est mas­ter­piece of Catholic archi­tec­ture. Built in the 13th cen­tu­ry, the land­mark was named after Saint Jan­u­ar­ius, who to this day is con­sid­ered the patron saint of Naples. Of par­tic­u­lar inter­est is the chapel, the inte­ri­or of which was dec­o­rat­ed by the best mas­ters of the Renais­sance. It is worth pay­ing atten­tion to numer­ous fres­coes, mosaics and sculp­tures, as well as a ves­sel with the blood of St. Jan­u­ar­ius, which mirac­u­lous­ly boils on the days of great church hol­i­days.

Royal Palace of Naples

The Roy­al Palace of Naples is locat­ed in Piaz­za del Plebisc­i­to. It is a com­mem­o­ra­tion of the pow­er of the rulers of the king­dom, as the most promi­nent land­mark of Naples. The facade of the Roy­al Palace goes direct­ly to the square and is dec­o­rat­ed with stat­ues of the most promi­nent rulers. The inte­ri­or of the palace is no less inter­est­ing than the facade. You will be amazed by the lux­u­ry of its inte­ri­ors, and most of the Roy­al Palace is occu­pied by the Nation­al Library of Naples with a unique col­lec­tion of ancient Roman papyri. While explor­ing all the sights of the palace, also vis­it the throne room and admire the col­lec­tion of rare paint­ings by famous Ital­ian painters.

Piazza del Plebiscito

Ref­er­en­dum Square is con­sid­ered the main square of the city. It is also the most pop­u­lar attrac­tion in Naples, from where all city tours start. The main mon­u­ment of the square is the roy­al palace, the for­mer res­i­dence of the rulers of Naples. Here is the cen­tral reli­gious shrine of the city — the Basil­i­ca of St. Fran­cis. Oth­er archi­tec­tur­al gems of Piaz­za del Plebisc­i­to include the Pre­fec­tur­al Palace, where guests of the roy­al fam­i­ly lived. Nowa­days, there is a restau­rant here, on the ter­race of which there are always a lot of tourists. The square is a venue for per­for­mances by numer­ous musi­cians and artists. Exhi­bi­tions and fes­tive events are held here.

The ruins of Pompeii — the main attraction of Naples

The trag­ic death of ancient Roman Pom­peii is one of the most famous events in his­to­ry. The erup­tion of 79 instant­ly wiped out an entire city and thou­sands of its inhab­i­tants. Dur­ing exca­va­tions under a lay­er of vol­canic lava, the well-pre­served Ruins of Pom­peii were dis­cov­ered, which today are an open-air muse­um. It has a very impor­tant his­tor­i­cal val­ue, as it is the only ancient Roman city that has sur­vived to this day. Dur­ing the tour, tourists have an amaz­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty to walk through res­i­den­tial areas, look at the archi­tec­ture of ancient Pom­peii, wan­der around the mar­kets and even see the leg­endary Roman baths. This Naples land­mark is an essen­tial part of any tour of the city. You can admire the views of this place in the selec­tion of the most spec­tac­u­lar ruins of Pom­peii.