Soaring high above beautiful Piazza del Gesù Nuovo is Giuseppe Genuino's lavish Guglia dell'Immacolata, an obelisk built between 1747 and 1750. On 8 December, the feast of the Immacolata, a fireman scrambles to the top to place a wreath of flowers on the statue of the Virgin Mary.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Museo Archeologico Nazionale
0.45 MILES
Naples' National Archaeological Museum serves up one of the world’s finest collections of Graeco-Roman artefacts. Originally a cavalry barracks and later…
Museo di Capodimonte
1.34 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…
Cappella Sansevero
0.23 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…
Ruins of Herculaneum
5.72 MILES
Herculaneum harbours a wealth of archaeological finds, from ancient advertisements and stylish mosaics to carbonised furniture and terror-struck skeletons…
Ruins of Pompeii
14.06 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
0.62 MILES
The high point (quite literally) of the Neapolitan baroque, this charterhouse-turned-museum was built as a Carthusian monastery between 1325 and 1368…
Catacombe di San Gennaro
1.21 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…
Castello Aragonese
17.02 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 Naples attractions
1. Piazza del Gesù Nuovo
0.01 MILES
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…
2. Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo
0.04 MILES
The extraordinary Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo is an architectural Kinder Surprise. Its shell is the 15th-century, Giuseppe Valeriani–designed facade of Palazzo…
3. Complesso Monumentale di Santa Chiara
0.06 MILES
Vast, Gothic and cleverly deceptive, the mighty Basilica di Santa Chiara stands at the heart of this tranquil monastery complex. The church was severely…
4. Palazzo Orsini in Gravina
0.12 MILES
Seat of Naples University's architecture faculty, this elegant 16th-century palazzo is one of the most significant examples of Renaissance architecture in…
5. La Bottega del Mandolino
0.14 MILES
In a workshop with glue simmering on the hob and tools covering the walls, luthiers Salvatore Masiello and Michele Caiazza build mandolins under the warm…
6. Piazza Dante
0.16 MILES
On hot summer evenings, Piazza Dante turns into a communal living room, packed with entire families who stroll, eat, smoke, play cards, chase balloons and…
7. Chiesa di Sant'Anna dei Lombardi
0.16 MILES
This magnificent church is testament to the close links that once existed between the Neapolitan Aragonese and the Florentine Medici dynasty. One…
8. Port'Alba
0.17 MILES
A Mediterranean Diagon Alley, Port'Alba is an atmospheric porthole into the centro storico, best experienced on weekday afternoons. Crammed with bookshops…