QUEEN OF GAIETY

Handsome palazzi, vibrant streets, enticing restaurants, bright sunshine, an unforgettable panoramic bay… Don’t miss the chance to discover one of Italy’s most fascinating cultural capitals on this full-day Naples shore excursion. With your private guide leading the way you will admire some of Naples’ most famous attractions and learn about its rich and riveting past, beginning with the city’s early origins as the ancient Greek Neapolis, up to its full bloom in the 1700s.

Your day begins 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 last stop of the morning will bring 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.

In the afternoon, following free time for lunch, you will feel the enchantment of a bygone kingdom on a tour of the zona monumentale, formerly the centre of Naples’ political and administrative activities. As you amble along charming alleys, across stately piazzas, past imposing castles your guide will fill you in on the history of Naples, focusing on the 1700s when the city reached the height of its prosperity. “See Naples and die” goes an old saying which means that once you have visited this city you can rest in peace since nothing else is worth seeing or can match its beauty and magnificence. Although the saying is of unknown origin and authorship, historians believe it could have become popular in the 18th century, during the reign of the Bourbons, when the city flourished and revelled in its Golden Age. Naples was the wealthiest, most industrialized and technologically advanced city in Italy. It was also the country’s most populous metropolis and the third most densely inhabited city in Europe, after London and Paris. Its economy was based on trade and the busy port which gave impulse to many industries including those in the maritime, mechanical and textile fields. To top it all, Naples was – and still is – a splendid treasure trove of archaeological, architectural and artistic gems. Generations of European Grand Tour travellers flocked here to soak up the city’s unique atmosphere and pay homage to this Queen of cities.

A visit to Palazzo Reale will allow you to catch a glimpse of the splendour that must have once reigned at court. Standing in the grand, elegant Piazza del Plebiscito, opposite Naples’ very own Pantheon – the domed Basilica of San Francesco di Paola – the palace was the official residence of the Spanish Bourbons. Architect Domenico Fontana designed the first nucleus in the early 1600s, though the building we can admire today is the result of successive enlargements and redecoration carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries. The entrance hall with the majestic marble staircase sets the tone and prepares visitors for the impressive sights to come. Highlights include the court theatre, the throne room and the private apartments which are still furnished with original period pieces and richly embellished with tapestries and frescoes, attesting to the wealth and prestige of its occupants.

Your guide will certainly show you around Galleria Umberto I, a fancy 19th century glass-vaulted arcade lined with shops and cafes. You will also discover Naples’ significant contribution to the world of music while you walk past the legendary Theatre of San Carlo, Italy’s oldest opera house, established in 1737. No less astounding are the city’s architectural and engineering feats, as you will learn when you gaze out on the 13th century Castel Nuovo, the royal seat of the kings of Naples up until the 1700s, and Castel dell’Ovo, wrapped in curious legends that feature a magic egg and a mermaid. On seeing the waterfront, with its superb view of Mount Vesuvius and the dark blue Tyrrhenian Sea, Martin Farquhar Tupper was moved to write:

Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure,
Crowned by consenting nations peerless queen of gayety:
She laugheth at the wrath of Ocean, she mocketh the fury of Vesuvius,
She spurneth disease, and misery, and famine, that crowd her sunny streets.

Today the very same sights will take your breath away.