PALAZZO REALE : Piazza del Plebiscito, 1 - Tel 081-400547
Open everyday from 9am to 7pm. Closed on Wednesday
Metro: Line 1 stop Toledo
Funicular: Centrale stop Augusteo
Bus: 140, 152,R2, R3, C18, C19, C12

PAN - PALAZZO DELLE ARTI NAPOLI : Via dei Mille, 60 - Tel 081-7958605
Open everyday from 9.30am to 7.30pm - Snday from 9.30am to 2.30pm. Closed on Tuesday.
Funicular: Chiaia stop Parco Margherita
Metro: Line 2 stop Piazza Amedeo
Bus: R3

PIO MONTE DELLA MISERICORDIA (church and exhibition of paintings) : Via dei Tribunali, 253 - Tel 081-446944
Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm - Sunday from 9am to 2.30pm
Historical center, limited traffic zone

QUADRERIA DEI GIROLAMINI : Via Duomo, 142 - Tel 081-294444
Monday to Friday 8.30am to 7pm - Saturday and Sunday 8.30am to 2pm. Closed on Wednesday.
historical center, limited traffic zone

SAN MARTINO : Piazzale San Martino, 5 - Tel. 081-5586408
Everyday from 8.30am to 7.30pm. Closed on Wednesday.
Funicular: Montesanto stop Via Morghen, Centrale fermata stop Fuga, Chiaia stop Vomero
Metro: Line 1 stop Vanvitelli
Bus: V1

SANTA CHIARA : Via Santa Chiara, 49/c - Tel 081-19575915
Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 5.30pm- Sunday 9.30am to 2.30pm
Historical Center, limited traffic zone

STORICO MUSICALE CONSERVATORIO DI SAN PIETRO A MAJELLA : Via San Pietro a Majella - Tel 081-446810
Monday to Friday 9.30am to 12.30pm. On appointment. Closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Metro: Line 1 stop Dante

TEATRO SAN CARLO : Via San Carlo - Tel 081-5534565
Guided tours everyday at 10.30, 11.30, 12.30, 2.30, 3.30, 4.30.
Metro: Line 1 stop Toledo
Funicular: Centrale stop Augusteo
Bus: R2, C25, R3

TESORO DI SAN GENNARO : Via Duomo, 149 - Tel 081-294980
Monday to Friday 9am to 4.30pm. Saturday and holidays 9am to 5.30pm.
Metro: Line 2 stop Cavour

TESSILE E DELL'ABBIGLIAMENTO ELENA ALDOBRANDINI : Piazzetta Mondragone, 18 - Tel 081-4238368.
VOn appointment.
Funiculae: Centrale stop C.V: Emanuele
Bus: C16, E6

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CASTEL NUOVO - MASCHIO ANGIOINO

How to reach : Outside the Hotel il Convento turn on the right and get first on the left Vico Tre Re a Toledo. At the end of the alley - about 50 mts - you'll be in Via Toledo. In front of you there is the Banco di Napoli and at the right side of the building there is Via Imbriani. Walk along Via Imbriani. At the end of the street you will be in Piazza del Municipio. Maschio Angioino Castle is in front of you.

History : Occupying Naples in 1266, Charles I of Angiò, didn't find a suitable abode, so decided to build one as soon as out of the fencing wall of the city. So works started of the Castel Nuovo started (1279-1282). It was denominated Castel Nuovo (New Castle) to distinguish others old castles Capuano and of the Ovo.Tipica representation of the French Gothic style, was initially constituted by an irregular plant quadrilateral, four towers and tall embattled walls . In reality Charles I never lived there, it was his child Charles I to establishethere and subsequently Roberto of Angio, that brought substantial changes to the structure of the Castle. When to the Angioinis succeeded the Aragonesis, also Alfonso I of Aragona followed tradition to set his abode in the Maschio Angioino (other name of Castel Nuovo) and to begin works of enlargement. Is of this time that goes up the famous arc of triumph place among the tower of middle and the one of watch. Now the monument appears a trapezoidal plant formed by a curtain of tufa in which five cylindrical towers are inserted (four of "piperno" and one of tufa). From the time of Alfonso I to today, it have been many works of amplification and restauration that have interests the castle. Substantially the structure that is introduced to our eyes today is a mixture of the French and Catalan taste.

The Arc of Triumph (1453 - 1479) : Wanted by Alfonso I of Aragon to celebrate his victorious entrance in the city (February 23 rd 1443), it's formed by 2 arcs rib of vault superimposed. The relief of the central frieze impending the first arc represents the new king sat on a wagon hauled by the Fortune. The second arc, should have instead to contain an equestrian statue of the sovereign, that should heve be order to Donatello, but in reality it was never realized.

Baron's room : Wanted by Roberto of Angiò and painted in fresco by Giotto in 1330, the room was originally called Room Maior. The frescos, unfortunately lost, represented illustrious characters of the past. In 1919 the room is partially destroyed by a fire. On the lintels are still visible the bas-reliefs represented the triumphal procession of Alfonso and the entry of the king in the castle. In the angle south-east of the Room, through a Gothic door there is the access to the spectacular winding stairs, currently inagibile. The environment is also illuminated from a balcony called "Triumphal" of which is original the base that has the form of an inverted pyramid. Currently the room is turned to the reunions of the town junta.

The legends : At the time of Charles II Of Angiò the castle was the abode of Pope Celestino V, whose pontificated was the shortest of the history: only 5 months. In fact on December 13, Celestino V decided to abandon dresses of head of the spirituality and, always among walls of the castle, was proclaimed his successor: Bonifacio VIII. The history narrates that it was the same Bonifacio VIII to convince the pope to abdicate. It is narrated, in fact, that Bonifacio, well knowing the sensitive character of Celestino, night time, introducing a long trumpet through a window in the room of Celestino, and pretending to be a messenger of God, he suggested to him to abandon the charge. Very more atrocious are stories of the mysterious disappearances of guests of Queens Giovanna I of Angiò and Giovanna II. These people, were said, were been destined to an atrocious death: they were tortured and I killed by sinister assassins or, for the most part, puched down, through a trap door, in the jails, where they were torn to pieces by a crocodile, arrived by the African coasts and nested, by sea, in the underground of the castel. To capture the crocodile was used as bait a thigh of horse and, once killed, it was embalmed and exposed to the entry of the castle. As confirmation of this legend is the recovery in the jails of four coffins without any description containing bones, probably those of the barons arrested and killed (see next legend). We are in 1486, at the times of Ferrante of Aragon. It's in that period that the Room Maior acquires the name of Room of the Barons, as the sovereign, wanting to avenge himself of the barons' share to a conspiracy, he invites them at the castle with the pretext of the celebration of the wedding of his child and, once reunited in the room, it makes them arrest and to throw in the jails. Of them won't be known anything.

CASTEL SANT 'ELMO

How to reach : From Hotel il Convento reach Via Toledo and turn on the right. Walk for about 300mts. On the left you will see a little square: Piazzetta Augusteo where there is funicular station. Get funicolar and hop off at Fuga (last stop). At the right side of the funicular station Fuga there is an escalator. Get it and followdirection to reach other escaletors. At the end you will arrive in Via Annibale Caccavello. Go up hill

The castle sees its origin in 1275, during the kingdom of Charles I of Angiò. In this phase it had to have the structure of a medieval palatium. The Belforte, this was in origin the name of the Castle, rises in 1329 to want of Roberto of Angiò on the hill of the Vomero. During the reconstruction it was modified with defensive works, so much to be called castrum Sancti Erasmi, probably for the presence of a chapel devoted to Saint Erasmo. From the plaza of weapons and from the slopes it is enjoyed of a suggestive sight of the ancient center and the bay of Naples: from the ancient Neapolis to Partenope, with the hold loophole of Spaccanapoli
The Castle was not only used as point of defense during the revolt of Masaniello in 1799 but it was also used for imprisoning the revolutionary ones, acquiring a punitive function that has preserved for different years.
It was military zone up to 1976, year when the last restauration began, conducted by the Provveditorato to the Public Works with the intent to return it to the city as center of cultural activity. Very interesting are the underground jails and the terraces.
It can be visited in case of expositions.

Certosa Di San Martino : But we cannot talk about the Castle Sant'Elmo without cite the Chartreuse of San Martin founded in 1325 by Charles duke of Calabria, that wanted it in a dominant position on the city. The first solution was an imposing Gothic construction of which few elements remain today in reason of a radical restructuring with Baroque style in XVII century. Some cracks with bows in Catalan style are still recognizable - which can be found in the ex-refectory probably used as passes foods and founded in a recent restauration. The Chartreuse was consacrated to St. Martino, bishop of Tours, probably for the presence of an ancient preexisting chapel. Toward the half part of XVI century, under the influence of the counter-reformation, the Chartreuse was renewed according to the most modern ideas. A splendid example of the seventeenth-century Neapolitan art is constituted from the Great Cloister, characterized by columns of order Dorico-Tuscan, from the little cemetery of the Carthusian monks, from the statues of the colonnade, from the busts of the saints Carthusian monks on the portals, from the false pit in the center and from numerous fruit trees. A smaller cloister, called Cloister of the Attorneys, constitutes the access to the gardens and to rooms of the National Museum; it has the same proportions of the Great Cloister, and it has at the middle a pit, made by Felice de Felice. The apartment of the Prior was decorated by famous Neapolitan painters, and endowed with a beautiful floor in brick and majolica pottery, still visible.
The monastery was suppressed in 1806 by French.
Today the Chartreuse entertains the National Museum of San Martino dedicated to the city history and with an ample, suggestive, exposure of cribs of the Neapolitan school.
Gardens of the Chartreuse go down from St. Martino along the hill of the Vomero, to reach tin Corso Vittorio Emanuele and from them you enjoy some most beautiful panoramas on the Bay of Naples.

CASTELLO ASELMEYER

Come Arrivare : From Hotel il Convento reach Via Toledo and turn on the right. Walk for about 300mts. On the left you will see a little square: Piazzetta Augusteo where there is funicular station. Get funicolar and hop off at Fuga (last stop). Change with funicular of Chiaia (a couple of minutes on foot). Get funicular and stop in C.V.Emanuele. Aselmeyer Castle is on the right side of the funicular station.

History :

The grandiose construction, realized like a medieval castle, was built in reality between 1902 and 1904. Element of relief of the view from Via Caracciolo, the " castle " is a work of the English architect Lamont Young, it's the reason why, at first, it was called " Castle Lamont " was called.
The building is in Neo-Gotich style mixed with "Todoreschi" and Elisabethan elements, peculiar of English bourgeois residences. Initially the work was very criticized for the use of unusual lines not in harmony with the Neapolitan tradition. Currently the castle is turned to private residence and it is not visitable.

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ALBERGO DEI POVERI ALSO CALLED PALAZZO FUGA - Piazza Carlo III

Designed in 1751 by Ferdinando Fuga for Charles of Bourbon's will, the building had to give hospitality to the poor of the city, dividing them into four "castes": women, girls, men and boy.
Just based on these distinctions, Fuga designed the structure in order to preclude any contact among the different categories of guests.
According to the project there had to be a long rectangular building, measuring 600 meters in length and 150m in width, composed of five aligned courts of which, the central one, should have host a church characterized by four aisles arranged in the shape of X.
As a metter of fact the work was interrupted in 1819, leaving the building deprived of the sides corresponding to the outer edges of the last two court. After more than a century and a half of neglect, in 2005, officially started the restoration work.

GALLERIA UMBERTO I - Via Toledo

In 1884, following the devastating cholera epidemic, whole overcrowded neighborhoods (Porto, Pendino, Mercato, Vicaria) were demolished and a committee was convened to consider the reconstruction of these areas.
The rebuilding of the area adjacent to Via Santa Brigida, was entrusted to the engeneer Rocco Emanuele, who designed four buildings connected by a large gallery of iron and glass, whose design was entrusted to Paul Boublée. The stained glass, with an area of 1076 square meters, forming four arms, which intersect at a large dome. Of the four entrances to the tunnel, the most valued is the one faceing the San Carlo Theatre, with a slightly arched portico and a façade emphasized with marble statues and niches.
The gallery was officially unvelied on November 10th, 1892 by Mayor Nicola Amore, and became in late '800 and early '900 the city's art and fashion centre.
After a period of decline during the period between the wars, is now a large and elegant city salon with beautiful shops, meeting places and offices.

GUGLIA DELL' IMMACOLATA - Piazza del Gesu'

At the beginning, the obelisk at the center of the square, was actually an equestrian monument dedicated to Philip V. It was only in 1747 that, at the behest of the Jesuit father Pepe, was commissioned to the Architect Di Fiore the construction of the baroque spire.
It was the Jesuit father himself to refuse the King's subsidies, and to be able to pay the huge artists'fees thanks to popular collections. Even today, every Dec. 8, the Immaculate Conception Day, a ladder is leant against to the monument, to allow the cardinal offering a crown of flowers to the Immaculate.

PALAZZO DONN' ANNA - Via Posillipo

The building of the palace was commissioned by the Viceroy Guzman, for his wife Anna Carafa and the construction was entrusted to Fanzago. Works began in 1642, but were never completed due to the sudden death of the woman. By the time the building assumed the countenance of a ruin, mingling with the many Roman ruins.
Nevertheless, the structure keep on being a predominant figure in the coastal landscape of the city.

TEATRO AUGUSTEO

P.tta Duca D'Aosta, 263 tel. 081 40 56 60.
Location: Via Toledo, close by funicular Centrale. A couple of minutes on foot from Hotel il Convento

TEATRO DIANA

Via L. Giordano 64/72 tel. 081 578 49 78.
Location: Vomero. Get funicular centrale, hop off at Fuga (last stop). Walk along Via Scarlati and turn first on the left at the end of the pedestrian street.

TEATRO BELLINI

Via Conte di Ruvo, 14 tel. 081 549 9688.
Location: close by Piazza Dante. 10 minutes on foot from Hotel il Convento or 1 stop metro line 1

TEATRO MERCADANTE

P.zza Municipio, 64 tel. 081 551 3396.
Location: less than 5 minutes on foot from Hotel il Convento, in the middle of Piazza del Municipio.

TEATRO CILEA

Via S. Domenico, 11 tel. 24 72 684.
Location: Vomero. Richable by taxi of by metro line 1.

TEATRO SANNAZARO

Via Chiaia, 157 tel. 081 40 38 27.
Zona: In the middle of Chiaia district. 15 minutes on foot from Hotel il Convento.

TEATRO TOTÓ ( BRUTTINI )

Via Frediano Cavara,12/e tel. 081 5647525.
Location: close by Via Foria.

NUOVO TEATRO NUOVO

Via Montecalvario, 16 tel. 081 40 60 62.
Location: in the heart of Spanish Quarter. 250 mts only from Hotel il Convento.

CATACOMBE DI SAN GENNARO

Via tondo di Capodimonte 13 - Basilica del Buon Consiglio tel. 0815441305
info@catacombedinapoli.it
ispettoratocatacombe@tiscali.it

Timetable Catacombs of San Gennaro: from Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. Ticket Catacombs San Gennaro + Catacombs San Gaudioso euro 9,00. Reachable by bus R4 from the city center.

CATACOMBE DI SAN GAUDIOSO

Piazza Sanità 14 - Basilica di Santa Maria della Sanità tel. 081 5441305
info@catacombedinapoli.it

Open everyday from 10am to 1pm. Ticket Catacombs San Gennaro + Catacombs San Gaudioso euro 9,00. Reachable by bus R4 from the city canter.

CATACOMBE DI SAN SEVERO

Piazzetta S.Severo a Capodimonte tel. 0817411071/081 5441305
ispettoratocatacombe@tiscali.it

Open everyday from 10am to 1 pm. Ticket euro 9,00. Reachable by bus R4 from the city center.

SCAVI DI SAN LORENZO MAGGIORE

Piazza San Gaetano, 316 tel. 081 2110860.

open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. Sunday 10am to 1.30pm. Ticket euro 4,00. In the heart of the historical center, limited traffic zone. About 20 minutes on foot from Hotel il Convento.

NAPLES UNDERGROUND

Associations :
Napolisotterranea : Piazza San Gaetano, 68 tel. 081 296944. Guided tours every hour
Laes : Piazza Trieste e Trento. Tel. 081 400256. On appointment.
Galleria Borbonica: Vico del Grottone, 4

TOMBS OF POETS

Tomb of Virgilio e Leopardi : Via Piedigrotta, 20 tel. 081 669390
Tomb of Jacopo Sannazzaro : Chiesa di S. Maria del Parto - Via Mergellina, 9/b tel. 081 664627

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Traditional Pizzerias

PIZZERIA BRANDI - founded in 1780

Salita Sant'Anna di Palazzo, 1 tel. 081 416 928
It's here that was created the famuos Pizza Margherita
It's at less than 10 minutes on foot from Hotel il Convento

L'ANTICA PIZZERIA DA MICHELE

Via Cesare Sersale 1/3/5 tel.081 553 92 04
Located in the Forcella district, it's one of the most ancient pizzerias in Naples. Here you can eat only Margherita and Marinara.

PIZZERIA TRIANON DA CIRO CASA MADRE

Via P. Colletta, 42/46 tel. 081 553 94 26
Enjoy the real Neapolitan pizza

ANTICA PIZZERIA E RISTORANTE PORT 'ALBA

Via Port'Alba, 18 tel. 081 45 97 13
Close by Piazza Dante, at less than 15 minutes on foot from Hotel il Convento.

ANTICA PIZZERIA GINO SORBILLO

Via dei Tribunali, 32
In the heart of the ancient center, lies the historical seat of Pizzaria Sorbillo, one of the most famous pizza makers in the world.

LA NOTIZIA

Via Michelangelo da Caravaggio, 53 tel. 081 714 21 55
On the Posillipo hill we find the Pizzeria La Notizia. The family atmosphere, DOP products of Campania Felix and the skill of Enzo Coccia make this place an obligatory stop for pizza lovers

Pizza chefs new generation

50 KALO'

P.zza Sannazzaro, 201/B
The union of tradition with innovation.
Pizzaiolo: Ciro Salvo.

PIZZA GOURMET

Via Caracciolo, 13
Pizza with fine flours and garnished with 0 km products.
Pizzaiolo: Giuseppe Vesi

ECCELLENZE CAMPANE MARE

Via Partenope 1/B
On the seafront. It's famous for pizza mixed with sea water.
Pizzaiolo: Guglielmo Vuolo

LIEVITO MADRE

Via Partenope 1
On the seafront. The famous Sorbillo pizza a few steps from the sea.
Pizzaiolo: Gino Sorbilloo

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ANTICA CAPRI

Via Speranzella, 110 tel. 081 0383486
Traditional Neapolitan cuisine and pizzeria. Famous its fish specialties. Reservations are recommended

TRATTORIA NENNELLA

Very close to the hotel. A very particular restaurant. After your meal, you'll remember not only the typycal neapolitan food, but also the wonderful people you meet there.

DAL DELICATO

Largo Sermoneta, 34 tel. 081 667047
Traditional Neapolitan food.

AL 53

Piazza Dante, 53 tel. 081 5499372
seafood cuisine

CIRO A SANTA BRIGIDA

Via Santa Brigida, 71 tel. 081 5524072
Neapolitan traditional cuisine. Specialties: pignatiello di vavella.

HOSTERIA TOLEDO

Vico Giardinetti a Toledo,78 tel. 081 421257
Ancient Neapolitan cuisine.

DA DORA

Via Palasciano, 30 tel. 081 680519
Seafood cousine lovers.

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NEAPOLITAN TRADITIONS

 

Fire of the Belly: 15 July - Piazza del Carmine

Miracle of San Gennaro: Saturday before the first Sunday of May, 19 Sept, 16 Dec - Duomo di Napoli

Fucarazzo ‘e Sant’Antuono (bonfire of Sant'Antonio): 17 Jan - Piazza del Carmine

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CAPPELLA SANSEVERO - Via F. De Sanctis, 19 Tel 081 5518470

The Sansevero of the Sangro' Chapel , called also "Saint Maria of the Pity of the Sangro" or " Pietatella", was built in 1590 as sepulchral chapel of the family.
To make this chapel a leg inevitable of your trip, are statues of the Demureness, the Disillusionment and the Veiled Christ.
The Demureness is the name of the funeral monument of Cecilia Gaetani of Aragon, mother of Mr. Raymond, dead in young age; the Corradini, to express the concept of the "veiled bashfulness ", carved a beautiful naked woman covered by a transparent veil that makes her totally indecent for the generosity of the opulent forms.
The Disillusionment, is the one of Antonio de Sangro, prince's father, dead in 1757, that, upset by the great pain for the death of his wife, he abandoned himself to a wandering and uneasy life discovering the "deception " and then retirind to monastic life surrendering the things of the world and the child Raimondo to his father Paolo. Francesco Queirolo represented a man (Antonio) that make him free from a net that envelops him, working in with only one marmoreal block.
The Veiled Christ is the synthesis of the whole chapel. Initially the sculpture, commissioned to the Corradini, it had to represent the Passion. At the death of Corradini, however, the sculputure was realized by Sammartino with the same suggestive techniques of the Demureness .
In the crypt you can find Anatomical Machines, two human bodies which the prince, with a prepared of his invention, has removed the " bodily wrap ", making of metal the whole system of the veins and the arteries. At present we don't know how he did it , who were the two miserable persons and if they were already dead or not.

IL CIMITERO DELLE FONTANELLE - Piazza Fontanelle alla Sanità n.154

The graveyard is dug-out in the hill of Materdei. You can enter here fromthe little church of SS. Maria del Carmine. Up to 1836 it 3was the ossuary of the city. The greatest part of the skeletons go back to the terrible pestilence that, in 1656, decreased the number of the inhabitants from 400.000 to 100.000.
In 1952 Roger Peyrefitte wrote: "In two wide galleries, tall a dozen and long hundred meters, there were thousand and thousand of skulls and bones illuminated by thousand of candles. The bones are arranged for type and in geometric forms except some skulls that are in wood showcases, they are remains of "adopted souls".... It looks like an immense cathedral of the death. The unreal silence was broken only from the litanies of the old women that recited prayers for the souls of the Purgatory."
After a period of closing, the graveyard was reopened in 1872. From this period, the cult of the souls " pezzentelle " began. Every devotee adopted a skull, that corresponded to a soul "pezzentella ", that is a soul abandoned and without prayers, he gave him a worthy setup in a showcase and visits often him bringing flowers and candles and reciting "requiem aeterna ". In change the adoptive parent wanted graces and protection and if these didn't happen he abandoned the skull and he adopted another one.

MIRACLE OF SAN GENNARO - Duomo di Napoli

The legend tell that Gennaro, bishop of Benevento, lived in the period of Diocleziano's Christian persecutions. In that period Sossio was bishop of Miseno. While Gennaro was going to Miseno for a liturgy, Sossio was imprisoned. So Gennaro, went to meet him at prison with his deacon Festo and the lector Desiderio. Here they were recognized as Christians and captured.
Martyrs were beheaded and their blood was put into ampullas from some faithfuls.It was the 305 d.c.. Between 413-432 the Bishop of Naples decided to give him a worthy grave moving his remains in the catacomb on the hill of Capodimonte.
On August 17th, 1389 there was the first news of the miracle of blood liquefaction. It was the Assunta's holiday and San Gennaro's relics were shown to faithfuls: the blood was fluid like if it was spurted the same day.
The miracle recurs 3 times per year: eve of the first Sunday of May (first translation), December 16th (anniversary of Vesuvio's eruption of 1631), and September 19 (death's date).

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