Sights in Campania
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Palazzo Donn’Anna
Few buildings fire up the local gossipmongers like Posillipo’s seaside Palazzo Donn’Anna. Incomplete, semiderelict yet strangely beautiful, it takes its name from Anna Carafa, for whom it was built as a wedding present from her husband, Ramiro Guzman, the Spanish viceroy of Naples. When Guzman hotfooted it back to Spain in 1644 he left his wife heartbroken in Naples. She died shortly afterwards and architectural whiz-kid Cosimo Fanzago gave up the project. The grand yet forlorn heap sits on the site of an older villa, La Sirena (The Mermaid), reputed setting for Queen Joan’s scandalous sex orgies and crimes of passion (rumour has it that fickle Joan dumped her lovers …
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Villa Cimbrone
Some way east of Piazza del Duomo, the 20th-century Villa Cimbrone is worth seeking out for the vast views from the delightfully ramshackle gardens. The best viewpoint is the Belvedere of Infinity, an awe-inspiring terrace lined with fake classical busts.
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Certosa di San Martino
The high point (quite literally) of Neapolitan baroque, this stunning charterhouse, Certosa Di San Martino, is home to the Museo Nazionale di San Martino. Founded as a Carthusian monastery in the 14th century, the Certosa owes most of its present look to facelifts in the 16th and 17th centuries, the latter by baroque maestro Cosimo Fanzago. The church and the rooms that flank it contain a feast of frescoes and paintings by Naples’ greatest 17th-century artists – Francesco Solimena, Massimo Stanzione, Giuseppe de Ribera and Battista Caracciolo.
Adjacent to the church, the elegant Chiostro dei Procuratori is the smaller of the monastery’s two cloisters. A grand corridor…
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On the main street linking the ruins and the train station, child-friendly MAV is a new virtual-reality archaeology museum bringing the region’s ruins back to life through holograms and computer-generated video.
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Galleria di Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano
Banking group Intesa Sanpaolo has put its profits to good use, restoring the exquisite 17th-century Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano it occupies and opening a small art gallery on its piano nobile (main floor). While the 19th-century stucco detailing and frescoes are delightful, the gallery’s pièce de résistance is Caravaggio’s final masterpiece, The Martyrdom of St Ursula (1610). Completed a few weeks before the artist’s lonely death, it depicts the brutal scene of a vengeful king of the Huns piercing the heart of his unwilling virgin bride-to-be, Ursula. Positioned behind the dying martyr is a haunted Caravaggio, an eerie premonition of his own impending death. The tumu…
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Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine
Doting mothers, political drama and the odd miracle: it’s little wonder that this veteran church plays a starring role in Neapolitan folklore. According to legend, when Conrad (Corradino) of Swabia was charged for attempting to depose Charles I of Anjou in 1268, his mother, Elisabetta di Baviera, desperately tried to collect the money required to free her son. Alas, the money arrived too late, Conrad lost his head and his grief-stricken mamma handed the cash to the church (on the condition that the Carmelite brothers prayed for him every day). They agreed, the church went up and a monument to Conrad still remains in the transept. Yet Christ’s own mother is the real prot…
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Giardini di Augusto
Get away from the Capri crowds by heading southwest of the monastery where, at the end of Via Matteotti, you have the unexpected green oasis of the colourful Giardini di Augusto. Founded by the Emperor Augustus, you should spend a few minutes contemplating the breathtaking view from here: gaze ahead to the Isole Faraglioni and the three dramatic limestone pinnacles that rise vertically out of the sea. Measuring 109m, 81m and 104m respectively, the stacks are home to a rare blue lizard that was once thought to be unique to the Faraglioni but has since been found on the Sicilian coast. While sadly beyond the capacity of even the most sophisticated camera lens, a photo from …
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Monte Nuovo
It’s not every week that a mountain just appears on the scene. But this is exactly what happened just west of Pozzuoli in 1538. It all began in the early 1530s, when the area began experiencing an unusual level of seismic activity. Meanwhile, locals began noticing a dramatic uplift of the land between Lago d’Averno, Monte Barbaro and the sea, which displaced the coast by several hundred metres. Little did they know that under them a Monte Nuovo was getting set for its grand debut. At 8pm on 29 September 1538, a crack appeared in the earth near the ancient Roman settlement of Tripergole, spewing out a violent concoction of pumice, fire and smoke over six days. By the e…
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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.
Firstly, Ferrante Sanseverino knocked down the houses that were blocking his beautiful 15th-century palazzo (later to become the Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo) and in one fell swoop cleared the square's northern flank. Some years later, Spanish viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo demolished the Angevin city gate and once again moved the city walls westwards.
At its centre soar…
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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.
Charles's gesture was grand indeed - the Albergo dei Poveri (Hostel of the Poor) is Europe's largest public building. If all had gone according to architect Ferdinando Fuga's plans, though, it would have been bigger. His original designs called for a facade 600m long, with five internal courtyards. When co…
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Museo Archeologico di Pithecusae
The town's other cultural heavyweight is the Museo Archeologico di Pithecusae, housed in the elegant Villa Arbusto, former pad of Angelo Rizzoli. The villa overlooks Monte Vico, site of the ancient settlement and acropolis of Pithecusae, and its collection features important finds from the island's Hellenic settlement, from imported earthenware to parts of the acropolis itself. Older still are the fragments of Mycenaen pottery and Bronze Age vases from Casamicciola.
The collection spans Ischia's development from Neolithic to Roman times. A highlight is the legendary 7th-century Nestor's Cup in Sala (Room) II. The three Homeric verses scratched onto its side read: 'I am Ne…
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Via Chiaia
Join the perma-tanned locals for a fix of people watching, window shopping and palazzo gazing on this pedestrianised street. Linking Piazza Trieste e Trento with Piazza dei Martiri (and Santa Lucia with Chiaia), it’s a particular hit with evening flâneurs, not to mention home to the 16th-century Palazzo Cellamare at No 149. Built as a summer residence for Giovan Francesco Carafa, the palazzo later hosted Bourbon monarchy guests, including Goethe and Casanova. Towards the western end of the street you pass under what looks like a triumphal arch but is, in fact, a bridge built in 1636 to connect the hills of Pizzofalcone and Mortella. Past the arch, turn right into blue-…
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Villa Floridiana
While the lush, manicured gardens are worth the trip for the lofty views alone (think city, sea and Capri), the cultural highlight here is the National Museum of Ceramics. Housed in the stately Villa Floridiana – a gift from King Ferdinand I to his second wife, the Duchess of Floridia – its 6000-piece collection features priceless Chinese Ming (1368–1644) ceramics and Japanese Edo (1615–1867) vases on the lower floor. The top floor is dedicated to European ceramics, including some sumptuous Meissen pieces, as well as a smattering of paintings from greats such as Francesco Solimena, Francesco De Mura and Vincenzo Camuccini. At the time of research, the middle floor and its…
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Piazza del Plebiscito
For old-fashioned Continental grandeur, it’s hard to beat Piazza del Plebiscito. Whichever way you look, the view is impressive. To the northwest, vine-covered slopes lead up to Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino; to the east, the pink-hued Palazzo Reale shows off its oldest facade. And to the west stands Pietro Banchini’s neoclassical facsimile of Rome’s Pantheon, the colossal Chiesa di San Francesco di Paola. A later addition to the columned colonnade of Joachim Murat’s original 1809 piazza design, the church was commissioned by Ferdinand I in 1817 to celebrate the restoration of his kingdom after the Napoleonic interlude. Standing guard outside are…
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Villa Comunale
Another Luigi Vanvitelli production, this long, leafy seaside strip was originally built for Bourbon royalty. Called the Passeggio Reale (Royal Walkway), it was off-limits to the plebs except on 8 September, the day of the Festa di Piedigrotta. Rumour has it that taking one's wife to the park on that day was a clause in many a marital contract. Husbands across the city must have heaved a sigh of relief when the park finally went public in 1869.
Dividing the Riviera di Chiaia from Via Francesco Caracciolo and the sea, this urban oasis boasts a vintage aquarium, bandstand, tennis club and at least eight fountains. Named after the ducks that used to swim in it, the Fontana d…
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Chiesa Santa Maria di Piedigrotta
The fishing families of Mergellina had already built a church on this site when, in 1353, the Virgin Mary appeared to a Benedictine monk, a nun and Pietro the Hermit (later to become Pope Celestine V; telling them to build her a church. She was taken at her word and the church was consecrated within the year. Since then, the church has remained the central focus of the Festa di Piedigrotta, celebrated on 8 September.
Originally, the facade faced the rock, or grotta, to which the church owes its name (piedigrotta means 'foot of the cave'), but in 1553, it was reversed to face the city. In 1853, Enrico Alvino added the current neoclassical facade.
Inside, it's the 13th-centu…
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Anfiteatro Flavio
In its heyday, Italy’s third-largest amphitheatre could hold over 20,000 bloodthirsty spectators, who would pour in to cheer on mock naval battles (yes, the stadium was occasionally flooded for fun), and indulge in a little schadenfreude as lions chased those captive Christians. Planned by Nero and completed by Vespasian (AD 69–79), the ancient stadium’s best-preserved remains lie under the main arena. Wander among the fallen columns and get your head around the complex mechanics involved in hoisting the caged wild beasts up to their waiting victims through the overhead ‘skylights’. In AD 305 seven Christian martyrs were thrown to the animals by the emperor Diocletian. …
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Piscina Mirabilis
An archaeological pièce de résistance, the Piscina Mirabilis lies tucked away in a Bacoli backstreet. To access it, contact custodian Signora Filomena at No 9, who has the key to what is the world’s largest Roman cistern. Bathed in an eerie light and featuring 48 soaring pillars and a barrel-vaulted ceiling, it’s more ‘subterranean cathedral’ than ‘giant water tank’. The cistern was an Augustan-era creation, its 12,600 cu metre water supply serving the military fleet at nearby Miseno. Fresh water flowed into the cistern from the Serino river aqueduct, which was then raised up to the terrace with hydraulic engines, exiting through doors in the central nave. Engineers sti…
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Area Archeologica di Santa Restituta
Beneath Chiesa di Santa Restituta is the must-see Area Archeologica di Santa Restituta. Excavations undertaken between 1951 and 1974 have uncovered parts of an ancient Greek kiln, Roman temple and street, 4th-century burial amphorae and an early Christian basilica. Rows of cabinets display other ancient objects, from Roman bracelets and votive gifts to a 3300-year-old stove from Procida.
The ground-floor collection goes back to the future, with exquisite 17th-century pastori (nativity scene figurines), colourful 18th-century ceramics, high camp clerical garb and the 18th-century wooden statue of Santa Restituta still used in the annual procession in the Bay of San Montano…
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Il Sorgeto
From the pier, brightly painted water taxis reach some of the island's best beaches, including the intimate cove of Il Sorgeto, with its steamy thermal spring. Sorgeto can also be reached on foot down a poorly signposted path from the village of Panza.
A world away from north-coast crowds, tiny Sant'Angelo is the most chic spot on the island. Quiet laneways spill down the hill, flanked by chic boutiques, galleries, frangipani and sunning cats. At the bottom on Piazetta Ottorino Troia, tanned Italians sip Campari soda and take in late-night summer music concerts. Keeping an eye on it all is the great hulking scoglio (rock), joined to the village by a long sandbar sprinkle…
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Basilica di Santa Chiara
Vast, Gothic and cleverly deceptive, this mighty basilica is actually a 20th-century re-creation of Gagliardo Primario’s 14th-century original. Commissioned by Robert of Anjou for his wife Sancia di Maiorca, the hulking complex was built to house 200 monks and the tombs of the Angevin royal family. Dissed as a ‘stable’ by Robert’s ungrateful son Charles of Anjou, it received a luscious baroque makeover by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, Gaetano Buonocore and Giovanni Del Gaizo four centuries later, before taking a direct hit during an Allied air raid on 4 August 1943. Features that survived the fire include part of a 14th-century fresco to the left of the main door and a chapel…
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Chiesa Santa Maria Maggiore
The full title of this church, Santa Maria Maggiore alla Pietrasanta, is a reference to a 17th-century practice of kissing the church's pietrasanta (holy stone) to gain indulgences. Dating to the 6th century, the church was originally built by San Pomponio, the Bishop of Naples. According to legend, he did so to appease worried locals, who reported sightings of the devil in the form of a pig on the site.
The church was modified in the 17th century by Cosimo Fanzago, whose dome is visible from miles around. The Romanesque campanile (bell tower) is one of Naples' oldest, built sometime between the 10th and 11th centuries. Adjacent to the church, the 15th-century Cappella Po…
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Cathedral
Forming the eastern flank of Piazza del Duomo, the cathedral was originally built in 1086 but has since undergone various facelifts. The facade is 16th century, even if the central bronze door is an 1179 original; the interior is a late-20th-century interpretation of what the original must once have looked like. The pulpit is particularly striking, supported by six twisting columns set on marble lions and decorated with flamboyant mosaics of peacocks, birds and dancing lions. Note also how the floor is tilted towards the square – a deliberate measure to enhance the perspective effect. To the right of the central nave, stairs lead down to the cathedral museum and its mod…
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Castel Capuano
This Norman castle has been the seat of the city's civil courts since 1540, and the crowd of noisy families, slick lawyers and menacing police around the main entrance is a permanent feature. Built in 1165 by William I to guard the nearby city gate Porta Capuana, it was later enlarged by the King Frederick II and fortified by Charles I of Anjou. The castle is not open to the public.
Across the square, the imposing Porta Capuana was one of the city's main medieval gates. Built on the orders of Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1484, the two cylindrical towers, named Honour and Virtue, flank a white marble-clad triumphal arch. Giuliano da Maiano oversaw the addition of Emperor Char…
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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.
Headed by the Chiesa di San Domenico Maggiore and flanked by imposing palazzi, the piazza was a series of humble kitchen gardens until the 15th century when the Aragonese decided to make San Domenico their royal church. In the 17th century, various aristocrats built their townhouses around the square. At its centre sits the very baroque Guglia di San Domenico. Decorated by Cosimo Fanzago and completed in 1737 by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, it was a token of gratitude to San Domenico for …
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