NAPLES IN A NUTSHELL

There’s beauty to be found among the chaos. Soul-stirring art, breathtaking panoramas and unexpected elegance hide within the noisy, crowded streets of Naples.

Resting on the edge of a sun-kissed bay, in the shadow of mighty Mount Vesuvius, Naples is a vibrant seaport with thousands of years of history waiting to be explored. Its street plan, based on the ancient Roman grid-patterned roads, and the stunning architecture of its charming, yet faded, palazzi have earned the city its rightful place on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1995. Don’t miss the chance to discover this fascinating city on a half-day private tour. Your guide will meet you at your accommodation and lead you down tangled streets, across lively piazzas, inside ornately decorated churches allowing you to experience Naples in all its riotous appeal.

You begin your tour with a visit to the Church of Gesù Nuovo. Originally built in the 15th century as a private noble mansion and converted into a Christian temple by the Jesuits in the late 1500s, the church still preserves the striking facade of the original Palazzo Sanseverino with its distinctive diamond-shaped ashlars. Inside an eclectic, flamboyant parade of Baroque virtuosity, brimming with frescoes, stuccoes and coloured marble decorations, attests to Naples’ prime role in fostering the greatest talents of the 17th century, including Francesco Solimena, Luca Giordano and Cosimo Fanzago.

Just a few steps away, guests may admire a preview of paradise as they wander through the cloister of the Church of Santa Chiara, once a place of private contemplation for the nuns of the Order of Saint Clare. Bright hand-painted majolica tiles depicting figs, citrus fruits and vines adorn the sixty-four octagonal columns while the ceramic benches feature everyday scenes of urban and rural life in the 1700s. Additional splashes of green are provided by the garden’s hedges, lemon and orange trees, whose vivid leaves stand out against the cerulean backdrop of the Neapolitan sky.

From here amble along Via Benedetto Croce, cross Piazza San Domenico Maggiore and reach the mysterious Sansevero Chapel. Prince Raimondo di Sangro drew up the iconographic layout of the interior and commissioned skilful 18th century artists with the task of embellishing its walls with allegorical statues. Accounts of the prince’s beliefs, alchemic practices and fascination with the occult will surely intrigue you as you unravel the underlying meaning behind the works displayed here. Giuseppe Sanmartino’s amazingly realistic sculpture of the Veiled Christ is among the chapel’s highlights together with the so-called anatomic machines, two authentic human skeletons bearing precise reproductions of arterial and nervous systems made from beeswax, iron wire and silk… a puzzling, somewhat macabre sight that sparked rumours and dark legends about Prince di Sangro’s evil powers.

Other, more joyful surprises await you in Via San Gregorio Armeno, known for its artisan workshops selling hundreds of exquisitely crafted statuettes and figurines for traditional nativity scenes. Detailed miniatures of the Holy Family, shepherds and donkeys together with representations of pizzerias, fruit markets, gastronomic delights and caricatures of politicians spill out onto the street in a uniquely Neapolitan fusion of the sacred and the profane, of intense creativity and humorous insight.

No trip to Naples would be complete without paying homage to the local patron saint Gennaro, whose relics are safely locked away inside the cathedral. Three times a year thousands of devotees gather here to pray for and witness the miraculous liquefaction of the saint’s blood, interpreted as an assurance that disaster is not about to strike and a sign that the months ahead will be favourable for the city.

The final stop on this walking tour will lead you to the Chapel of Pio Monte della Misericordia, where you will have the opportunity to examine at close quarters the fine composition and stark chiaroscuro of the Seven Works of Mercy, one of master Caravaggio’s most ground-breaking paintings.