Naples
Naples Historic Centre, Spaccanapoli & the UNESCO Underground City
The historic centre of Naples (the 'Centro Storico di Napoli' — the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban centres in Europe, founded as the Greek colony of 'Neapolis' in the 5th century BC and maintaining the original Greek street grid — the 'insulae' of the ancient city — beneath the modern street plan) is the most densely historic and the most intensely alive city centre in Italy: the Spaccanapoli (the ancient Roman road that bisects the historic centre), the underground Naples (the 'Napoli Sotterranea' — the 40 km network of Greek and Roman tunnels, cisterns, and catacombs beneath the city), and the 448 churches (the most churches per square kilometre of any city in the world).
Via Toledo, Spanish Quarter & Neapolitan Street Life
The Via Toledo (the main commercial street of Naples — the straight, wide street running from the Piazza del Plebiscito to the Piazza Dante, the busiest shopping street in Naples and one of the busiest in Italy) and the Quartieri Spagnoli (the 'Spanish Quarter' — the dense neighbourhood of the grid of narrow streets west of the Via Toledo, built in the 16th century as the barracks of the Spanish garrison of the Viceroyalty of Naples, now the most authentically Neapolitan neighbourhood of the city) together represent the vibrant street life and the popular culture of Naples.
Pizza Margherita, Street Food & Naples as the Gastronomic Capital of Italy
Naples is the birthplace of pizza (the world's most popular food — the wood-fired flatbread with the tomato, the mozzarella, and the basil, invented in Naples in the 18th century and elevated to the status of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017 with the inscription of the 'Art of the Neapolitan Pizzaiuolo') and the city with the richest street food tradition in Italy — the city of the 'sfogliatella' (the flaky shell-shaped pastry), the 'baba au rhum' (the rum-soaked yeast cake), and the 'caffè espresso napoletano' (the most intense coffee culture in the world).
Caserta Royal Palace — The Versailles of Italy
The Palazzo Reale di Caserta (the Royal Palace of Caserta — the UNESCO World Heritage Site Bourbon royal palace 30 km north of Naples, the largest royal residence in the world by volume (the palace of 1,200 rooms, 1,790 windows, and 34 staircases, built 1752-1847 for the Bourbon Kings of the Two Sicilies to the design of the architect Luigi Vanvitelli) and the park (the English and Italian formal gardens extending 3 km behind the palace, with the spectacular cascade that falls 75 metres over the hillside).
Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius & Herculaneum — Cities Frozen in Time
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius on August 24-25, 79 AD (the most catastrophic volcanic eruption in European recorded history) buried the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Oplontis under the pyroclastic surge and the volcanic ash, preserving them with extraordinary completeness until their rediscovery in the 18th century — together creating the most important archaeological complex in the world and the most vivid window onto Roman daily life in the 1st century AD.
Teatro San Carlo — The World's Oldest Opera House
The Teatro di San Carlo (the 'San Carlo' — the opera house in Naples built 1737 by the Bourbon King Charles III of Naples (subsequently Charles III of Spain), the oldest continuously operating public opera house in Europe and the oldest opera house in the world (predating La Scala in Milan by 41 years and the Venice Fenice by 56 years): the opera house with the extraordinary baroque and neoclassical interior, the 'horseshoe' auditorium with 6 tiers of boxes seating 1,379 spectators, and the history of premieres (including Donizetti's 'Lucia di Lammermoor' (1835)).
Amalfi Coast, Positano & Ravello — UNESCO's Most Scenic Drive
The Amalfi Coast (the 'Costiera Amalfitana' — the UNESCO World Heritage coastline on the Sorrentine Peninsula south of Naples, the 50-km coastal road that winds between the cliff-top villages (Positano, Amalfi, Ravello) and the Mediterranean Sea, the most scenic coastal road in Europe) is 60 km south of Naples and the most popular day trip or extended excursion destination from the city.
Vomero, Certosa di San Martino & Views over Naples
The Vomero (the residential hill district above the historic centre of Naples, accessible by the 'Funicolare di Montesanto' or the 'Funicolare Centrale' funicular railway) and the Certosa e Museo di San Martino (the 'Charterhouse and Museum of San Martino' — the 14th-century Carthusian monastery on the hill of Vomero, the monastery with the most spectacular panoramic views of Naples, the Bay of Naples, and Vesuvius, and the museum with the most important collection of Neapolitan decorative arts, including the world's greatest collection of Neapolitan presepe (Nativity scenes)).
Museo di Capodimonte — The Greatest Baroque Art Collection in Italy
The Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte (the 'Capodimonte Museum' — the national art museum in the Bourbon royal hunting palace on the hill of Capodimonte above Naples, the museum with the Farnese collection (the greatest private collection of paintings in the Italian Renaissance, including Titian's masterpiece 'Danae' (1544-46) and Michelangelo's 'Cartoon of the Three Soldiers') and the Bourbon royal collection of Neapolitan and European Baroque painting (including Caravaggio's 'Flagellation of Christ', Raphael, and Artemisia Gentileschi).