Via Chiaia

Naples

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Join the perma-tanned for a spot of window-shopping on this popular pedestrianised strip. Linking Piazza Trieste e Trento with Piazza dei Martiri, it's a particular hit with evening flâneurs, not to mention home to 16th-century Palazzo Cellamare at No 149. Built as a summer residence for Giovan Francesco Carafa, it would go on to host numerous Bourbon royal guests, among them Goethe and Casanova.

Towards the street's western end, what looks like a triumphal arch is in fact a bridge built in 1636 to connect the hills of Pizzofalcone and Mortella. Past the bridge, turn right into blue-ribbon Via Filangieri and continue up to Via dei Mille, where sharply garbed locals and shops mix it with flouncy Stile Liberty (Italian art nouveau) architecture.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • View of the Villa Cimbrone with garden, Amalfi coast, Italy. 1189177206

    Villa Cimbrone

    23.38 MILES

    If you could bottle up a take-away image of the Amalfi, it might be the view from the Belvedere of Infinity, classical busts in the foreground, craggy…

  • Water carriers from Herculaneum, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.

    Museo Archeologico Nazionale

    1.27 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

    2.14 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

    1.1 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

    5.78 MILES

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

  • Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii 60092; Accidents and Disasters; Ancient; Ancient Civilization; Antiquities; Archaeology; Architectural Column; Architecture; Asia; Atlantic Islands; Boulder - Rock; Buried; Campania; City; Demolished; Disaster; Empire; Environmental Damage; Ephesus; Flores; Flores Island - Indonesia; Fortified Wall; Green Color; History; Horizontal; Italian Culture; Italian Currency; Italy; Landscape; Misfortune; Monte; Monument; Mountain; Mountain Range; Mt Vesuvius; Naples - Italy; No People; Old; Old Ruin; Outdoors; Photography; Pompeii; Rock - Object; Social Issues; Sorrento - Italy; Statue; Stone - Object; Stone Material; Temple - Building; The Past; Tower; Travel Destinations; UNESCO; UNESCO World Heritage Site; Volcanic Landscape; Wall - Building Feature;

    Ruins of Pompeii

    14.11 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

    0.55 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

    1.97 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…

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Nearby Naples attractions

1. Galleria Borbonica

0.14 MILES

Traverse five centuries along Naples’ Bourbon Tunnel. Conceived by Ferdinand II in 1853 to link the Palazzo Reale to the barracks and the sea, the never…

2. Piazza dei Martiri

0.15 MILES

If Chiaia is Naples' drawing room, then Piazza dei Martiri is its chaise longue. The square's centrepiece is Enrico Alvino's 19th-century monument to…

3. Palazzo Mannajuolo

0.17 MILES

Commissioned by entrepreneur and engineer Giuseppe Mannajuolo, this distinguished palazzo was built between 1910 and 1911. It's one of the city's finest…

5. Basilica di San Francesco di Paola

0.19 MILES

The undisputed star of Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples’ largest square, is the Basilica di San Francesco di Paola, a later addition to the colonnade that…

6. Galleria Lia Rumma

0.19 MILES

Since opening her gallery in 1971, Lia Rumma has garnered a reputation for discovering the next big names in art. The gallerist and collector helped…

7. Piazza del Plebiscito

0.26 MILES

For Continental grandeur, it's hard to beat Piazza del Plebiscito. Whichever way you look, the view is show-stopping. To the northwest, vine-covered…

8. Palazzo Reale

0.32 MILES

Envisaged as a 16th-century monument to Spanish glory (Naples was under Spanish rule at the time), the magnificent Palazzo Reale is home to the Museo del…