A major hub for shops, restaurants and bars, recently pedestrianised Corso Italia is the main thoroughfare shooting east-west through the bustling centro storico. Duck into the side streets to the north and you'll find narrow lanes flanked by traditional green-shuttered buildings, interspersed with the occasional palazzo (mansion), piazza or church. Souvenir and antiques shops, fashion boutiques, trattorias and some fine old buildings also jostle for space in this grid of cobbled backstreets.
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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
17 MILES
Naples' National Archaeological Museum serves up one of the world’s finest collections of Graeco-Roman artefacts. Originally a cavalry barracks and later…
17.82 MILES
Originally designed as a hunting lodge for Charles VII of Bourbon, the monumental Palazzo di Capodimonte was begun in 1738 and took more than a century to…
16.65 MILES
It's in this Masonic-inspired baroque chapel that you'll find Giuseppe Sanmartino's incredible sculpture, Cristo velato (Veiled Christ), its marble veil…
12.51 MILES
Herculaneum harbours a wealth of archaeological finds, from ancient advertisements and stylish mosaics to carbonised furniture and terror-struck skeletons…
10.58 MILES
The ghostly ruins of ancient Pompeii (Pompei in Italian) make for one of the world's most engrossing archaeological experiences. Much of the site's value…
Certosa e Museo di San Martino
16.57 MILES
The high point (quite literally) of the Neapolitan baroque, this charterhouse-turned-museum was built as a Carthusian monastery between 1325 and 1368…
17.75 MILES
Naples' oldest and most sacred catacombs became a Christian pilgrimage site when San Gennaro's body was interred here in the 5th century. The carefully…
22.63 MILES
There are castles and then there’s Ischia’s Castello Aragonese, a veritable fort-city set on its own craggy islet, looking like a cross between Harry…
Nearby Sorrento attractions
0.02 MILES
Sorrento's cathedral features a striking exterior fresco, a triple-tiered bell tower, four classical columns and an elegant majolica clock. Inside, take…
0.04 MILES
Incongruously wedged between racks of lemon-themed souvenir merchandise, this 15th-century domed palazzo (mansion) has exquisite, albeit faded, original…
0.1 MILES
Completed in the mid-1930s and recently restored, the gracious, neoclassical Villa Fiorentino is a venue for high-quality temporary art exhibitions and…
0.12 MILES
Built in the 14th century, the Palazzo Correale features a fetching Gothic-Catalan facade, complete with mullioned windows in dark tuff stone. The window…
5. Museo Bottega della Tarsia Lignea
0.12 MILES
Since the 18th century, Sorrento has been famous for its intarsio (marquetry) furniture, made with elaborately designed inlaid wood. Some wonderful…
0.12 MILES
Between the late 16th and early 17th century, this palazzo (mansion) was home to Cornelia Tasso, sibling of the lauded Italian poet Torquato Tasso…
7. Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie
0.12 MILES
The oldest part of this 15th-century church is the apse, where you'll find Silvestro Buono’s 1582 polyptych above the altar. Its central panel depicts the…
0.13 MILES
Tucked away on one of Sorrento's original Graeco-Roman decumani (main streets), the Palazzo Veniero is considered a rare and precious example of Arab…