Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli

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Naples' Palazzo Reale is home to the Biblioteca Nazionale, its priceless treasures including at least 2000 papyri discovered at Herculaneum and fragments of a 5th-century Coptic Bible. You will need to email the library a month ahead to organise a viewing of the papyri. If you're not that organised, head in regardless to view its beautiful 2nd-floor Biblioteca Lucchesi Palli (Lucchesi Palli Library), designed by some of Naples' most celebrated 19th-century craftspeople.

The Sezione Lucchesi Palli is home to numerous fascinating artistic artefacts, including letters by composer Giuseppe Verdi. If the door to the Sezione Lucchesi Palli is closed, simply ring the buzzer by the door. Note that photo ID is required to enter the Biblioteca Nazionale.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Water carriers from Herculaneum, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.

    Museo Archeologico Nazionale

    1.14 MILES

    Naples' National Archaeological Museum serves up one of the world’s finest collections of Graeco-Roman artefacts. Originally a cavalry barracks and later…

  • Royal Palace of Capodimonte, Naples

    Museo di Capodimonte

    2.03 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…

  • NAPLES, ITALY - JUNE 11: The Modesty of Antonio Corradini in the Sansevero Chapel during the reopening to the public on June 11, 2020 in Naples, Italy. The Sansevero Chapel Museum can be visited again after the closure imposed by the lockdown for the covid-19 emergency, exactly thirty years after the reopening to the public after the restoration works which in 1990 returned to the fruition the baroque masterpieces of the chapel commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro and the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino sculpted in 1753, today a symbol of the Neapolitan Baroque. (Photo by Ivan Romano/Getty Images) 1249041534

    Cappella Sansevero

    0.88 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…

  • Carved head, Casa dei Nettuno e Anfitrite, Herculaneum.

    Ruins of Herculaneum

    5.46 MILES

    Herculaneum harbours a wealth of archaeological finds, from ancient advertisements and stylish mosaics to carbonised furniture and terror-struck skeletons…

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    Ruins of Pompeii

    13.8 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…

  • Scenic picture view of the city of Naples Napoli with famous Mount Vesuvius in the background from Certosa di San Martino monastery, Campania, Italy; Shutterstock ID 2105276987; purchase_order: 65050; job: poi; client: ; other: 2105276987

    Certosa e Museo di San Martino

    0.69 MILES

    The high point (quite literally) of the Neapolitan baroque, this charterhouse-turned-museum was built as a Carthusian monastery between 1325 and 1368…

  • Burial chamber at the San Gennaro Catacombs

    Catacombe di San Gennaro

    1.89 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…

  • View of Castello Aragonese

    Castello Aragonese

    16.66 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…

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