Naples

Captivating, surprising, full of contradictions yet always capable of amazing. Naples is a vision with its monuments, neighbourhoods, and unusual views, often lent to cinema as natural film sets.

It’s a world unto itself that instantly amazes those who explore its streets. From Piazza del Plebiscito, the city’s symbolic square located in the largest historic centre in Europe and a UNESCO heritage site, all it takes is a wander through the adjacent streets to be struck by its contrasts. A walk through this area is a journey through time - from the past, represented by its monuments, churches, and elegant buildings, to the present, evidenced by the vibrant street art scattered on the city walls (including Banksy’s artwork, the Madonna with a Pistol, in Piazza Gerolomini, which is said to be the artist’s only work in Italy).

Even the city’s underground preserves history and beauty, which has now become an alternative itinerary, 40 meters deep. A dense network of tunnels built 5000 years ago to extract tuff blocks, later exploited by the Romans to create a complex network of aqueducts, and eventually used in the Second World War as air-raid shelters.

What also makes Naples unique is the landscape, with its beautiful gulf and the iconic profile of Vesuvius. There are countless points from which to appreciate its beauty, and each offers a fresh, surprising perspective: from the rooftop garden of Palazzo Reale with its splendid terrace overlooking the sea, climbing up to Posillipo with the funicular to Sant’Antonio’s terrace, from Pizzofalcone hill, also called Monte di Dio, a few steps from the centre where ancient Parthenope was born, or from Via Orazio and the neighbouring streets offering a postcard view that has charmed many landscape artists.