Duomo

Naples’ spiritual centrepiece, the Duomo sits on the site of earlier churches, themselves preceded by a temple to the god Neptune. Begun by Charles I of Anjou in 1272 and consecrated in 1315, it was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1456. Copious nips and tucks over the centuries, including the addition of a late-19th-century neo-Gothic facade, have created a melange of styles and influences.

Topping the huge central nave is a gilded coffered ceiling studded with late mannerist art. The high sections of the nave and the transept were decorated by Luca Giordano.

The 17th-century baroque Cappella di San Gennaro (Chapel of St Januarius; also known as the Chapel of the Treasury) features a fiery painting by Giuseppe Ribera and a bevy of silver busts and bronze statues. Above them, a heavenly dome glows with frescoes by Giovanni Lanfranco. Hidden away behind the altar is a 14th-century silver bust containing the skull of St Januarius and the two phials that hold his miraculous blood. Naples’ patron saint was martyred at Pozzuoli in AD 305, and according to legend, his blood liquefied in these phials when his body was transferred back to Naples.

The next chapel eastwards contains an urn with the saint’s bones, cupboards full of femurs, tibias and fibulas, and a stash of other grisly relics. Below the high altar is the Renaissance Cappella Carafa, also known as the Crypt of San Gennaro.

Halfway down the north aisle and beyond the 17th-century Basilica di Santa Restituta is the fascinating archaeological zone. Tunnels burrow into the remains of the site’s original Greek and Roman buildings. Here, too, is the baptistry, the oldest in western Europe, with its remarkably fresh 4th-century mosaics.

At the Duomo’s southern end, the Museo del Tesoro di San Gennaro glimmers with gifts made to St Januarius over the centuries, from bronze busts and sumptuous paintings to silver ampullas and a gilded 18th-century sedan chair. Admission includes a multilingual audioguide.