Naples
Naples/History

20 Historic Landmarks in Naples

20 landmarks with verified facts and stories

Basilica of Santa Chiara
~3 min

Basilica of Santa Chiara

49C Via Santa Chiara, Municipalità 2, Naples, 80134, Italy

artreligiongothic

The majolica-tiled cloister behind this church is one of the most photographed spots in Naples, and it's also one of the most improbable.

Bourbon Tunnel (Tunnel Borbonico)
~3 min

Bourbon Tunnel (Tunnel Borbonico)

4 Vico del Grottone, Municipalità 1, Naples, 80132, Italy

undergroundengineeringdark-history

King Ferdinand II was paranoid, and for good reason.

Cappella Sansevero
~4 min

Cappella Sansevero

19 Via Francesco De Sanctis, Municipalità 2, Naples, 80134, Italy

iconicartbaroque

There is a marble sculpture in this chapel that has made grown adults weep.

Castel dell'Ovo
~3 min

Castel dell'Ovo

3 Via Eldorado, Municipalità 1, Naples, 80132, Italy

iconicancientcoastal

Naples' oldest castle is built on a legend involving a magic egg, a Roman poet, and the potential destruction of an entire city.

Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino)
~3 min

Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino)

Via Vittorio Emanuele Terzo, Municipalità 1, Naples, 80133, Italy

iconicmedievalarchitecture

The white marble triumphal arch wedged between the dark towers of this castle is one of the strangest architectural collisions in Italy.

Castel Sant'Elmo
~3 min

Castel Sant'Elmo

22 Via Tito Angelini, Municipalità 5, Naples, 80129, Italy

militaryviewpointarchitecture

From the air, this fortress looks like a six-pointed star carved out of the volcanic hilltop.

Catacombs of San Gennaro
~3 min

Catacombs of San Gennaro

13 Via Capodimonte, Municipalità 3, Naples, 80136, Italy

undergroundancientreligion

Beneath the Capodimonte hill lies the largest underground early Christian burial site in southern Italy, and it's been down here since the 2nd century AD.

Certosa di San Martino
~4 min

Certosa di San Martino

5 Largo San Martino, Municipalità 5, Naples, 80129, Italy

iconicmuseumart

The Carthusian monks who lived here for five centuries had the best view in Naples and they knew it.

Museo di Capodimonte
~4 min

Museo di Capodimonte

2 Via Lucio Amelio, Municipalità 3, Naples, 80131, Italy

museumartpark

Charles of Bourbon had a problem most people would envy: he'd inherited the Farnese Collection — one of the greatest accumulations of Renaissance and Baroque art ever assembled — from his mother, and his existing palace was too small to hold it.

Naples Cathedral (Duomo di San Gennaro)
~4 min

Naples Cathedral (Duomo di San Gennaro)

147 Via Duomo, Municipalità 4, Naples, 80138, Italy

iconicreligiongothic

Three times a year, the entire city of Naples holds its breath and stares at a vial of dried blood.

Naples National Archaeological Museum
~5 min

Naples National Archaeological Museum

19 Piazza Museo Nazionale, Municipalità 3, Naples, 80135, Italy

iconicmuseumancient

If you want to understand what daily life looked like in a Roman city two thousand years ago, this is the single most important building on earth.

Naples Underground (Napoli Sotterranea)
~4 min

Naples Underground (Napoli Sotterranea)

68 Piazza San Gaetano, Municipalità 4, Naples, 80138, Italy

iconicundergroundancient

Forty meters beneath the traffic and chaos of modern Naples, there's an entire second city.

Piazza Dante
~3 min

Piazza Dante

Municipalità 2, Naples, Italy

architectureculturelocal-life

Before it was Piazza Dante, this was the Largo del Mercatello — the "little market" — and for centuries it was where Naples came to buy, sell, argue, and occasionally riot.

Piazza del Plebiscito
~3 min

Piazza del Plebiscito

Piazza del Plebiscito, Municipalità 1, Naples, 80132, Italy

iconicarchitectureneoclassical

For most of its history, this enormous piazza was a car park.

Pompeii Archaeological Park
~8 min

Pompeii Archaeological Park

Porta Marina, Via Villa dei Misteri, 80045 Pompei

iconicancientarchaeology

On August 24, 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried an entire Roman city under six meters of volcanic ash and pumice.

Rione Sanita
~3 min

Rione Sanita

Rione Sanità, 80136 Naples

local-lifeculturehidden-gem

This is the neighborhood Naples forgot, and then remembered just in time.

Royal Palace of Naples
~4 min

Royal Palace of Naples

Piazza del Plebiscito 1, 80132 Naples

iconicarchitectureroyalty

This palace was built for a king who never showed up.

San Domenico Maggiore
~3 min

San Domenico Maggiore

Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 8A, 80134 Naples

artarchitecturegothic

This church sits on one of the most beautiful piazzas in Naples, anchored by a Baroque plague column erected in 1737 — because in this city even the monuments to mass death are gorgeous.

Spaccanapoli
~4 min

Spaccanapoli

Via Benedetto Croce / Via San Biagio dei Librai, 80134 Naples

iconicculturelocal-life

Stand on the hilltop terrace of Castel Sant'Elmo and look down, and you'll see it immediately: a single straight line slicing the entire old city in half like a surgical cut.

Via Toledo
~3 min

Via Toledo

Via Toledo, 80134 Naples

shoppingculturelocal-life

Stendhal called this the most populated and gayest street in the world, and while 19th-century French novelists had a tendency toward hyperbole, he wasn't entirely wrong.

Explore history in Naples

GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.