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Albergo dei Poveri
Not impartial to a spot of PR, Bourbon king Charles VII built this giant poorhouse at a main city entrance to promote himself as enlightened and compassionate. In the process of a slow restoration, it currently houses 85 families, by now the descendants of needy families housed there after WWII. According to locals, they share the place with a number of luminous ghosts.
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Basilica di Santa Chiara
Simple, vast and severe, the bare Gothic interior you see today is not the genuine 14th-century article, but a brilliant recreation. Commissioned by Robert of Anjou, this hulking complex was built to house 200 monks and the Angevin royal family's tombs. Adhering to Gothic principles of the day, which equated height with vicinity to God, the original design met with a mixed reaction. Four centuries later, it was given a luscious baroque makeover.
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Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo
The Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo, on the northern side of the piazza, is one of the city's greatest examples of Renaissance architecture. Consecrated by the Jesuits in the 16th century, its diamond-shaped stone facade actually belongs to the 15th-century Palazzo Sanseverino, which was converted to create the church. Legend has it that the carved markings on the piperno (volcanic rock) stones are inversed esoteric symbols which have cursed the building.
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Chiesa di San Ferdinando
Squeezed into the northeast corner of Piazza Trieste e Trento is the Chiesa di San Ferdinando, which features ceiling frescoes of the good-living Jesuits and a fine marble tomb by Tito Angelini in which lies Lucia Migliaccio, the Duchessa di Floridia and wife of King Ferdinand I. Designed by Giovan Giacomo di Conforto in the early 17th century, it was modified by Cosimo Fanzago.
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Duomo
Every year in May, September and December thousands gather in the Duomo to pray for a miracle - that the blood of the city's patron saint San Gennaro, kept here in two phials, will liquefy and save Naples from any potential disaster. When the miracle failed to occur in 1944, Vesuvius erupted. When it failed in 1980, the city was hit by a devastating earthquake.
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Fontana dell'Immacolatella
Diva of the local fountain scene, the Fontana dell'Immacolatella is a grand three-arched affair. Known also as the Fontana del Gigante, it was built by Michelangelo Naccherino and Pietro Bernini in 1601. Two minor arches, under which stand statues of river gods, flank a grand central arch topped by a look-at-me collection of obelisks, cherubs and coats of arms.
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Fontana di Nettuno
A studly Neptune tops this baroque ensemble by Cosimo Fanzago, Michelangelo Naccherino and Pietro Bernini. Under the glistening god, a cast of lions and spewing creatures complete the lavish picture. Built in 1601, this city favourite has had several addresses. Its last move came when work on the metro forced a transfer from Piazza Bovio to its current position. Will it stay or will it go? Only the Gods know.
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Galleria Umberto I
Doppelganger of Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the trick to appreciating this mammoth glass-and-steel masterpiece is to walk with your head tilted up: its grand central dome soars to a lofty 56 metres. The mysterious stars of David imbedded in the glasswork are said to suggest local Jewish investment in the building. Complete with a sumptuous marble floor, the Galleria makes a surreal setting for impromptu late-night soccer games.
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Guglia di San Gennaro
The oldest of the three obelisks in the centro storico, the Guglia di San Gennaro was dedicated to the city's patron saint in 1636. And like the Guglia di San Domenico it was a token of gratitude, only this time to San Gennaro for protecting the city from the 1631 eruption of Mt Vesuvius. The stonework is by Cosimo Fanzago, the bronze statue at the top by Tommaso Montani.
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Largo San Giovanni Maggiore
Dominating the western flank of this fetching little square is Giovanni da Nola's impressive 16th-century Palazzo Giusso, home to the Istituto Universitario Orientale. Facing this is the Chiesa San Giovanni Pappacoda, whose original 15th-century structure barely survived the attentions of an 18th-century makeover. Antonio Baboccio's Gothic portal remains, along with a bell tower constructed out of tufa, marble and piperno stone.
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Palazzo delle Poste
Looking like a giant, graffitied UFO, Naples' main post office is a striking Fascist concoction. Product of an urban renewal programme that wiped out the San Giuseppe quarter, it was designed in 1935 by Giuseppe Vaccaro and features a number of Fascist architectural hallmarks: most notably its foreboding scale and black marble columns - a reference to the black armbands worn by Mussolini and his right-wing posse.
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Palazzo Sanfelice
Don't be fooled by the run-of-the-mill exterior and scruffy La Sanità address. When Ferdinando Sanfelice built this pile for his family in 1726, it quickly became an avant-garde icon. The main talking point was the wildly theatrical double-ramped staircase in the second internal courtyard. From hereon, there was no stopping Sanfelice, who perfected his dramatic staircase design in various palazzi across the city. Unmissable is the one in the Palazzo dello Spagnola.
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Piazza Bellini
Just to the north of the western end of Via dei Tribunali, lively Piazza Bellini is a hotspot for the city's bohemians. Each night, its ivy-clad cafes and bars hum with jazz-loving writers, left-leaning students and a healthy dose of flirtatious glances. At its centre, 4th-century ruins of the Greek city walls add a classical touch.
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Piazza Dante
On hot summer evenings, Piazza Dante turns into a communal living room, packed with entire families who stroll, eat, smoke, play cards, chase balloons, whinge about the in-laws or simply sit and stare.
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Piazza dei Martiri
If Chiaia is Naples' drawing room, then Piazza dei Martiri is its sultry chaise longue. Anyone worth their Gucci shades heads here for caffè and languid outdoor lounging. Get a crash course in both at squareside café La Caffettiera.
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Piazza del Gesù Nuovo
Flanked by the spiky Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo and the Basilica di Santa Chiara, this lively square is one of Naples' most beautiful. For hundreds of years it was the principal western entrance to the city. But it wasn't until two major modifications in the 16th century that the piazza took on its current proportions.
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Piazza del Mercato
Where cars now park, heads once rolled. For centuries, this scruffy square was the site of gruesome public executions, including that of Conrad of Swabia and those of over 200 ill-fated supporters of the 1799 Parthenopean Republic. Equally grim is its honour as the starting spot for the devastating plague of 1656. The square sits at the easternmost point of the city's old medieval wall.
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Piazza del Municipio
Dominated by the iconic Castel Nuovo, Piazza Municipio isn't looking its best at the moment as construction continues on the new metro system. At the head of the square stands the 19th-century Palazzo San Giacomo. Attached to it is the 16th-century Chiesa San Giacomo degli Spagnoli, burial place of 16th-century Spanish viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo and his wife Maria. On the northern flank stands the Teatro Mercadante, a local theatre heavyweight.
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Piazza del Plebiscito
Until the world's G7 bigwigs landed in Naples for their 1994 summit, the city's largest piazza was also Europe's most impressive car park. Today, legs substitute wheels and this vast cobbled space is a hotspot for New Year revellers and World Cup celebrations.
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Piazza San Domenico Maggiore
For some unexplained reason, this airy square is a hit with dreadlocked Spaniards. Along with local students and foreign tourists, they flock here for a late-night beer, cigarette and chat.
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Piazza Trieste e Trento
Cocktail-sipping poseurs and packs of flirting teens make this an essential city pitstop. Grab a lemon granita from the hole-in-the-wall acquaiolo (drink stall) and take in the famous locals, which include the Palazzo Reale, Teatro San Carlo and legendary Caffè Gambrinus.
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Porta San Gennaro
This city gate was rebuilt in its current position in the 15th century after the expansion of the city walls. Named after San Gennaro because it marks the beginning of the route up to the Catacomba di San Gennaro, it retains traces of a 17th-century fresco by Mattia Preti. The artist decorated all the major city gates to give thanks for the end of the plague epidemic in 1656.
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Santissima Annunziata
This 14th-century religious complex is as well known for its former orphanage as it is for its jasmine-scented, light-filled basilica. Designed by Carlo Vanvitelli at the end of the 18th century, the basilica's interior is a bold affair with some 44 Corinthian columns lining the nave and a soaring 67m-high dome. The third chapel on the left features a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, one of the few remnants from the original 14th-century church.
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Statua del Nilo
This rather grim statue of the ancient Egyptian river god Nilo was put up by the city's Alexandrian merchants, who lived in the area during Roman times. When they moved out the statue disappeared, eventually turning up minus its head in the 15th century. Renamed Il Corpo di Napoli (The Body of Naples), it remained headless until the end of the 18th century when a great bearded bonce was added.
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Stazione Mergellina
In the 1920s and 30s, Stazione Mergellina was the station to be seen alighting a train. Currently under the surgeon's knife, it's set to steal the scene again. Designed by Gaetano Coast in 1925, its beaux-arts style is a flouncy combo of glass and iron framework, grand classical columns and high camp extravagance, including two depictions of Mercury languidly posing above the station entrance.
