Basilica of Santa Chiara

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. Designed by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro in 1742, the cloister transformed a sober Gothic monastery garden into an explosion of hand-painted ceramic tiles depicting pastoral scenes, mythological vignettes, and floral motifs in vivid yellow, green, and blue. Majolica-covered columns and benches wind through the garden between citrus trees and trailing vines. It looks like someone made a monastery out of Mediterranean pottery.

The basilica itself has a grimmer history. Robert of Anjou built it between 1310 and 1340 as the largest church in Naples, intended as the royal church and mausoleum of the Angevin dynasty. The original Gothic interior was lavish, but in the 18th century, Baroque architects covered everything in ornate decoration. Then, on August 4, 1943, Allied incendiary bombs struck the church, and the resulting fire burned for two days, destroying the Baroque additions and most of the medieval frescoes. What survived was a skeleton.

The postwar reconstruction stripped the church back to its original Gothic bones, creating the austere, spacious interior you see today. Some medieval tombs survived the fire, including the elaborate monument to Robert of Anjou behind the main altar — one of the largest royal funerary monuments in medieval Italy. The king is shown enthroned among saints and angels, still presiding over the church he built, seven centuries after his death.

The cloister tiles, miraculously, survived the bombing largely intact. Walk through them slowly — each panel tells a different story, and the cumulative effect, surrounded by the scent of lemon trees, is one of the most peaceful moments Naples can offer.