While most visitors to Italy make a beeline for Firenze, Veneto, and Roma, my heart belongs to Napoli.
Whether you are visiting over a weekend or planning to stay for a week-long adventure, there are plenty of things to do in Naples.
Let’s start with some basic information, like when to visit, where to stay, and how to get around.
Naples is a vast city located on the western coast of Italy facing the Tyrrhenian Sea. The third largest city in Italy behind Rome and Milan with a population of 975,000 and a greater metropolitan population of over 3.1 million. Naples and the surrounding region has been inhabited since the Neolithic period and it has seen some form of continuous human activity through ancient Greek times to the Roman Empire and further.
Throughout history it has been the sight of fierce battles and many civilisations have vied to gain power here. Naples port is one of the most important in the Mediterranean and the city has one of the largest economies in Italy. Due to the extensive history of this region, Naples is full of historical buildings, squares and churches plus a lot of nightlife opportunities.
1. Piazza del plebiscito
When looking for things to do in Naples you should include a visit to its largest piazza. At six acres, this public space is a gathering spot for a casual stroll, a backdrop for large scale art installations, a phenomenal New Year’s Eve celebration, and a stage for world famous singers and performers. Here visitors will find the Palazzo Reale, a 30-room Royal House Museum, as well as Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, the largest library in southern Italy.
2. Pompei & Herculaneum
Pompeii and Herculaneum were two ancient Roman cities that are famous UNESCO World Heritage Sites today. These cities were destroyed by the volcanic catastrophe of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The cities and nearby areas were buried under 4 to 6 volcanic ash and debris. The site remained lost until its final rediscovery 1748.
The remains of the city including structures, streets and object are preserved on the sites. The latter is in fact one of the world’s most preserved ancient cities. Pompeii and Herculaneum are one of the top tourist attractions in the world. You can also opt to explore Pompeii wearing a VR gear adding that special effect to your excursion. This is one of the most exciting things to do in Naples, Italy for history lovers.
3. Veiled Christ at Cappella Sansevero
Carved in 1753 by Giuseppe Sanmartino, it shows the figure of Christ lying under what looks like a piece of the thinnest of fabrics. The facial features are clearly visible, as are the body and even the crucifixion wounds, but the entire body is covered by the delicate folds of a cloth. The visual effect is truly stunning. There are two other sculptures of note in the Capella Sansevero, each dedicated to one of the parents of the man who commissioned them and built the chapel, but it’s the Veiled Christ which rightfully commands all the attention.
4. Castel dell'Ovo
The Castel dell’Ovo is the oldest standing fortification in Naples. The castle’s name comes from a legend about the Roman poet Virgil, who had a reputation in medieval times as a great sorcerer and predictor of the future. In the legend, Virgil put a magical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications. Had this egg been broken, the castle would have been destroyed and a series of disastrous events for Naples would have followed.
5. Walk along Spaccanapoli - Unesco World Heritage Site
The city of Naples comes alive in all its splendor, chaos and charm on the street colloquially known as Spaccanapoli, or “Via San Biagio”. It is the main street that divides Naples and is the heart of the historic center. Begin in the Piazza del Gesù Nuovo and discover the traditional pizzerias and pastry shops, as well as some of the best monuments and churches in the city. Via San Gregorio Armeno, off Via San Biagio, is famous for its nativity workshops and stores.
6. Eat Pizza
It may sound weird that the first thing to do or see in a city is actually something to eat, but this is, after all, the birthplace of pizza (probably Italy’s most popular food export) and the locals take their signature dish very seriously. Make sure you go to a pizzeria that’s serving “pizza vera napoletana,” true Neapolitan pizza, and you’ll be good to go.
7. Marinella - artisan of tie
For over 100 years, E. Marinella can be found in the same Italian 20-square meter shop off Via Riviera Chiaia. Four generations of Marinella men have created, fostered, and maintained this little corner of England in the charming waterfront neighborhood of Naples, Italy. Maurizio Marinella, third-generation, continues the tradition of opening its doors at 6.30 in the morning. Nowhere else provides as friendly a shopping experience with an array of exclusive, Italian luxury handmade goods for loyal clientele. Marinella’s philosophy, handed down from father to son, is to remain humble in life and to maintain a timeless style. This is reflected in their designs, keeping to Italian tradition of a classic aesthetic and vigorously safeguarding their high-quality guarstandards. Marinella continues its strict policy to produce its products personally handmade, whilst using handprinted fabrics from England to create its unique, timeless, craftsmanship pieces. This quaint Italian family-operated of Naples shop has expanded its business to include locations in Rome, Milan, Tokyo and found in department stores like Bergdorf Goodman in New York, Santa Eulalia in Barcelona, Bongénie in Geneva, and Bon Marché Rive Gauche in Paris. Alessandro Marinella, the fourth-generation, has recently joined his father Maurizio in carrying on the craftsmanship traditions of this craft and is committed to remaining a symbol of elegance, luxury, and Italian classic style.
8. Funicular Ride – World’s Longest
If you are a traveler at heart you would know that journies are far more interesting than the destination itself. And what better than traveling within your destination using local transport. Maples has the longest funicular lines in the world and carries over 10 million passengers annually. So, you need not worry or think about what to do in Naples to get around!
Naples Cable Railway Lines, i Funicolari, operates four-car cable lines the city centre with the Vomero and Posillipo hill districts. The funicular journey around the city and up and down the hill is a joy ride for tourists. This is one of the unmissable things to do in Naples, Italy.
9. Climb Mount Vesuvius
Classified as a Stratovolcano, Mount Vesuvius dominates the skyline and landscape surrounding Naples and is a legendary volcano that famously erupted in 79 AD and caused the destruction and burial of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Vesuvius stands as the only volcano in mainland Europe that has erupted in the last 100 years – It is considered extremely dangerous due to the amount of human settlements that are situated in its danger zone.
Today you can take a bus tour from Naples to visit this magnificent natural phenomenon and climb up its slopes to peer into the crater.
A hike will take between 20-30 minutes and is considered not too challenging – The views from the top on a clear day are simply fantastic and the caldera and crater are hugely interesting too.
10.Capri Island
Capri is a small inhabited island that is known for its dramatic scenery, rugged coastline dotted with beautiful caves and its quaint and charming Italian villages.
A boat trip from Naples harbour takes just under two hours and there are regular ferries that travel between the island and mainland, and neighbouring Sorrento.
Walk through the wonderful Marina Grande, admire the boats in the harbour and then set off to explore the island.
Don’t forget to take a trip to see the famous Blue Grotto Sea Cave or the view from the top of Monte Solaro.
11.The Spanish Quarter
Bustling Quartieri Spagnoli is a commercial hub skirted by Via Toledo, a part-pedestrian street lined with mainstream and designer fashion stores. Trattorias and food stalls selling fried pizza are scattered nearby. As well as several churches, like the 16th-century Santa Maria della Mercede a Montecalvario, the area houses the entrance to Napoli Sotterranea, an underground network of tunnels and catacombs.
12. Napoli Sotterranea
Forty meters below the characteristic and lively streets of the Historic Center of Naples, you find a different world, unexplored, isolated by time, but deeply connected with the world above. It’s the heart of Naples, and the place from which the city was born. To visit it is to travel to the past, a world 2400 years old.Every historic epic, from the foundation of Neopolis, to the bombs of WWII, has left it’s mark on the walls of the yellow tufa stone, the soul of Naples, and the stone with which the city was built.
13. Caffè Gambrinus
Gambrinus is Naples' oldest and most venerable cafe, serving superlative Neapolitan coffee under flouncy chandeliers. Oscar Wilde knocked back a few here and Mussolini had some rooms shut to keep out left-wing intellectuals. Sit-down prices are steep, but the aperitivo nibbles are decent and sipping a spritz or a luscious cioccolata calda (hot chocolate) in its belle-époque rooms is something worth savouring.
14.Parco Sommerso di Gaiola Marine Reserve in Naples
Steep steps lead down to this marine reserve, rich in biodiversity and submerged Roman ruins. Due to its size, only 100 bathers are allowed through its gates at any one time (bring photo ID). Admittedly, the association managing the fragile reserve tolerates rather than encourages bathers. Instead, visitors should consider one of the educational activities offered, including year-round tours of the marine reserve and the clifftop Parco Archeologico del Pausilypon, littered with the ruins of the 1st-century BC Villa di Pollione. The once-luxurious villa belonged to Publius Vedius Pollio, a wealthy friend of Emperor Augustus and, according to accounts by Pliny the Elder, a cruel, murderous figure who bred murene (large eels) in the coastal grottoes below, which are also visited on the guided tours. Bequeathed to Augustus after Pollio’s death in 15 BC, the grounds include a Roman theatre, the venue for weekly sunset concerts and theatre performances in the summer.
15. Pio Monte della Misericordia
The 1st-floor gallery of this octagonal, 17th-century church delivers a satisfying, digestible collection of Renaissance and baroque art, including works by Francesco de Mura, Jusepe de Ribera, Andrea Vaccaro and Paul van Somer. It's also home to contemporary artworks by Italian and foreign artists, each inspired by Caravaggio's masterpiece Le sette opere di Misericordia (The Seven Acts of Mercy). Considered by many to be the most important painting in Naples, you'll find it above the main altar in the ground-floor chapel. Magnificently demonstrating the artist's chiaroscuro style, which had a revolutionary impact in Naples, Le sette opere di Misericordia was considered unique in its ability to illustrate the various acts in one seamlessly choreographed scene. Pio Monte della Misericordia's archives are home to the Declaratoria del 14 Ottobre 1607, an original church document acknowledging payment of 400 ducats to Caravaggio for the painting.
16. Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo
The extraordinary Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo is an architectural Kinder Surprise. Its shell is the 15th-century, Giuseppe Valeriani–designed facade of Palazzo Sanseverino, converted to create the 16th-century church. Inside, piperno-stone sobriety gives way to a gob-smacking blast of baroque that could make the Vatican blush: a vainglorious showcase for the work of top-tier artists such as Francesco Solimena, Luca Giordano and Cosimo Fanzago. The church is the final resting place of much-loved local saint Giuseppe Moscati (1880–1927), a doctor who served the city's poor. Adjacent to the right transept, the Sale di San Giuseppe Moscati (Rooms of St Joseph Moscati) include a recreation of the great man's study, complete with the armchair in which he died. Scan the walls for ex-voti, gifts offered by the faithful for miracles purportedly received. The church itself received a miracle of sorts on 4 August 1943, when a bomb dropped on the site failed to explode. Its shell is aptly displayed beside the ex-voti. The church flanks the northern side of beautiful Piazza del Gesù Nuovo, a favourite late-night hang-out for students and lefties. At its centre soars Giuseppe Genuino's lavish Guglia dell'Immacolata, an obelisk built between 1747 and 1750. On 8 December, the Feast of the Immacolata, a firefighter scrambles up to the top to place a wreath on the statue of the Virgin Mary.
17. San Carlo Theatre
The Teatro Reale di San Carlo (Royal Theatre of Saint Charles), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro di San Carlo, is the oldes European opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent to the Piazza del Plebiscito. It is the oldest continuously active venue for opera in the world, having opened in 1737, decades before either Milan's La Scala or Venice's La Fenice.
18.Concettina Ai Tre Santi - Pizzeria Ciro Oliva
Visiting Rione Sanità, one of the oldest districts of Naples is an unique experience.
Here there are the Paleochrstian catacombs and the Fontanelle cemetery. It is here that you will find the noble baroque buildings. Another reason to visit Rione Sanità is because you can taste one of the best pizza of Naples. The pizza made by Ciro Oliva.
20. San Martino - Vomero
The high point (quite literally) of the Neapolitan baroque, this charterhouse-turned-museum was built as a Carthusian monastery between 1325 and 1368. Centred on one of the most beautiful cloisters in Italy, it has been decorated, adorned and altered over the centuries by some of Italy’s finest talent, most importantly architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio in the 16th century and baroque sculptor Cosimo Fanzago a century later. Nowadays, it’s a superb repository of Neapolitan and Italian artistry.
The monastery’s church and the sacristy, treasury and chapter house that flank it contain a feast of frescoes and paintings by some of Naples’ greatest 17th-century artists, among them Battista Caracciolo, Jusepe de Ribera, Guido Reni and Massimo Stanzione. In the nave, Cosimo Fanzago’s inlaid marble work is simply extraordinary.
Adjacent to the church, the Chiostro dei Procuratori is the smaller of the monastery’s two cloisters. A grand corridor on the left leads to the larger Chiostro Grande (Great Cloister). Originally designed by Dosio in the late 16th century and added to by Fanzago, it’s a sublime composition of Tuscan-Doric porticoes, marble statues and vibrant camellias. The balustrade marks the Certosa's small cemetery, adorned with skulls created by Fanzago.
Just off the Chiostro dei Procuratori, the Sezione Navale documents the history of the Bourbon navy from 1734 to 1860, and features a small yet extraordinary collection of royal barges. The Sezione Presepiale – which faces the refectory – houses a whimsical collection of rare Neapolitan presepi (nativity scenes) from the 18th and 19th centuries, including the colossal 19th-century Cuciniello creation, which covers one wall of what used to be the monastery’s kitchen. The Quarto del Priore in the southern wing houses the bulk of the monks' historic picture collection, as well as one of the museum’s most famous sculptures, the tender Madonna col Bambino e San Giovannino (Madonna and Child with the Infant John the Baptist). The piece is the work of Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Also noteworthy is a statue of St Francis of Assisi by 18th-century master sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino, creator of the Cristo velato (Veiled Christ) housed in Naples' Cappella Sansevero.
21. San Gregorio Armeno - Spaccanapoli
With every new start to the Christmas season, the shopping race takes off, and the Italian streets are filled with exquisitely festive colors and light. Shop windows are decorated to attract the eye, while most cities also host their own Christmas markets, where you can purchase typical products and, most of all, presents and almost anything to do with Christmas. Of all the markets, the one you should not miss is the one in Via San Gregorio Armeno in Naples, with its endless shops dedicated to the Christmas Nativity tradition famous all over the world.
22. Posillipo
Spread over a lush hillside, Posillipo is an affluent residential area known for its seafood restaurants and classy cocktail bars. Small beaches dot the coastline, and terraces in Parco Virgiliano offer views of the Gulf of Naples. Nearby is Pausilypon Archaeological Park, with the remains of a Roman villa and amphitheater. More Roman ruins can be seen with a glass-bottomed-boat tour of Gaiola Underwater Park.
23.Borgo Marinaro
An evocative combo of bobbing boats, seaside dining and cocktail-sipping night owls, the small, rocky Borgo Marinaro is where – according to legend – the heartbroken siren Partenope washed ashore after failing to seduce Ulysses with her song. It's also where the Greeks first settled the city in the 7th century BC, calling the island Megaris. Its most famous resident today is the hulking Castel dell'Ovo. According to legend, the Castel dell'Ovo (Castle of the Egg) owes its improbable name to the Roman poet Virgil, who supposedly buried an egg on the site, ominously warning that when the egg breaks the castle (and Naples) will fall. Built in the 12th century by the Normans, it's the city's oldest castle. Its particular position had long been appreciated – originally by the Roman general Lucullus, who had his villa here – and it became a key fortress in the defence of Campania. It was subsequently used by the Swabians, Angevins and Alfonso of Aragon, who modified it to suit his military needs.
24.Palazzo Donn'Anna
Incomplete, semiderelict yet hauntingly beautiful, this seaside Posillipo villa takes its name from Anna Carafa, for whom it was built as a wedding present from her husband, Ramiro Núñez de Guzmán, the Spanish viceroy of Naples. When Núñez de Guzmán hotfooted it back to Spain in 1644 he left his wife heartbroken in Naples. She died shortly afterwards and architectural whiz-kid Cosimo Fanzago gave up the project. The grand yet forlorn heap sits on the site of an older villa, La Sirena (The Mermaid), reputed setting for Queen Joan’s scandalous sex orgies and crimes of passion (rumour has it that fickle Joan dumped her lovers straight into the sea). Exactly which Queen Joan is up for debate. Some believe her royal nastiness was Joan I (1326–82), daughter of Charles, Duke of Calabria. Her list of alleged wicked deeds includes knocking off her husband. Others place their bets on Joan II (1373–1435), sister of King Ladislas, her appetite for men remains the stuff of licentious legend. Palazzo Donn’Anna is usually not open to the public.
25.La Pignasecca
Naples' oldest street market is a multisensory escapade into a world of wriggling seafood, fragrant delis and clued-up casalinghe (homemakers) on the hunt for perfect produce. Fresh produce aside, the market's street-side stalls flog everything from discounted perfume and linen to Neapolitan hip-hop CDs and oh-so-snug nonna slippers.
26.Procida
The Bay of Naples’ smallest island is also its best-kept secret. Off the mass-tourist radar, Procida is like the Portofino prototype and is refreshingly real. August aside – when beach-bound mainlanders flock to its shores – its narrow, sun-bleached streets are the domain of the locals: kids clutch fishing rods, parents push prams and old seafolk swap yarns. Here, the hotels are smaller, fewer waiters speak broken German and the island’s welcome hasn't been changed by a tidal wave of visitors.
If you have the time, Procida is an ideal place to explore on foot. The most compelling areas (and where you will also find most of the hotels, bars and restaurants) are Marina Grande, Marina Corricella and Marina di Chiaiolella. Beaches are not plentiful here, apart from the Lido di Procida, where, aside from August, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding some towel space.
27.Sorrento & Amalfi Coast
Its string of fabled towns read like a Hollywood cast list. There's jet-set favourite Positano, a pastel-coloured cascade of chic boutiques, spritz-sipping pin-ups and sun-kissed sunbathers. Further east, ancient Amalfi lures with its Arabic-Norman cathedral, while mountaintop Ravello stirs hearts with its cultured villas and Wagnerian connection. To the west lies Amalfi Coast gateway Sorrento, a handsome clifftop resort that has miraculously survived the onslaught of package tourism.
Turquoise seas and cinematic piazzas aside, the region is home to some of Italy's finest hotels and restaurants. It's also one of the country's top spots for hiking, with well-marked trails providing the chance to escape the star-struck coastal crowds.
28. Ischia
The volcanic outcrop of Ischia is the most developed and largest of the islands in the Bay of Naples. An early colony of Magna Graecia, first settled in the 8th century BC, Ischia today is famed for its thermal spas, manicured gardens, striking Aragonese castle and unshowy, straightforward Italian airs – a feature also reflected in its food. Ischia is a refreshing antidote to glitzy Capri.
29.Sfogliatella & Babà Pastries
It’s worth a trip to Naples if you love to eat, but especially if you have a sweet tooth. The secret to the city’s famous pastries lies in the combination of textures: flaky crust, a bite of fruit, and soft cream, best when enjoyed warm and fresh out of the oven. And you cannot leave Naples without sampling the granddaddy of Neapolitan pastry—sfogliatella.
Babà al rum are delicious sponge cakes soaked in a sticky, citrus-scented boozy syrup. Although Italians often link babà with the city of Naples, this much-loved dessert actually originated in the eighteenth century in Central Europe, namely in the Duchy of Lorraine.
Babà was brought to Southern Italy in the nineteenth century by the monsù – chefs who had trained in France and worked in the kitchens of the well-off families of Naples. Soon enough, these deliciously sticky brioche buns became a local speciality. Despite their rather aristocratic origins, babà are now a very “democratic” sweet, present on Neapolitan tables at every special occasion and at all times of the year.
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