Naples City Tour
Duration: 4–8 hours
You will discover the city’s monuments, with its Greek and Roman buildings, Baroque and Rococo palaces and churches, squares and narrow streets in the historic center, where you can admire the history and origins of Naples, not to mention the wonderful views from Posillipo and Mergellina.
NAPLES
In a land of legends such as Campania, even the origins of Naples are linked to myth. That of Ulysses, who was able to resist the songs of the sirens to such an extent that one of them, Partenope, allowed herself to die right here because of it. The origins of ancient Palaepolis are Greek, while the founders of Neapolis came from nearby Cuma. Throughout the Roman and early Christian periods, Neapolis did not stand out for its importance due to the nearby city of Pozzuoli. It was when the Normans founded Castel dell’Ovo that Naples began to grow; all its lords then guided it in this direction: from the Angevins to the Aragonese, from the Spanish governors to the Austrians, from the Bourbons to the French. Until the Savoy, with whom it entered the Kingdom of Savoy, becoming the most populous city in Italy at the time. The history of the 20th century saw the explosion of demographic problems linked to overpopulation and lack of work, the destruction of the Second World War and the senseless reconstruction, which has now begun to be remedied.
The orthogonal layout of the historic centre of Naples is one of the city’s monuments. This has always been respected, replacing Greek and Roman buildings (often hidden underground) with palaces and churches that document all Italian artistic trends. From the Gothic style of the Angevins to the Renaissance of the Aragonese, up to the golden age par excellence of Naples, consisting of Baroque and Rococo. It is impossible to say which church best expresses this natural flair for combining marble, stucco and paintings. What is certain, however, is that the Certosa di San Martino, the cloister of Santa Chiara, the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro and San Gregorio Armeno are truly unsurpassable. And, on closer inspection, art is also the extraordinary succession of views offered by a geographical position with few equals in the world. From Spaccanapoli to Marechiaro, there are many panoramic viewpoints par excellence, splendid despite the intense and uncontrolled building expansion that took place after the Second World War.
