Just a few minutes on the Metro Line 1 (Dante or Museum stops) and the Montesanto funicular cable car (Montesanto stop), the historical centre of Naples is the largest in Europe. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, and embraces small and large jewels of history, art and architecture at every single corner, making it an authentic open-air museum.
National Museum
The National Archaeological Museum of Naples is the most important in Italy for its wealth of archaeological artefacts and works of art.
The museum covers an area of over 12,000 square meters and is divided into subject areas to allow visitors to get a greater insight of the works: among the most important we can name the Egyptian wing, the Pompeii collections and the Farnese Room, but there are many more routes which promise a fascinating and unique experience.
Decumans and San Severo Chapel
The centre of Naples still retains almost all its Greek planning policy. There are three decumans that cross it: Higher, Upper and Lower decuman, also known as SpaccaNapoli. The latter, in particular, is still perfectly straight and easily distinguishable from the Vomero hill.
Walking along the Higher Decuman Major and turning towards Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, you can stop off to visit the San Severo Chapel and admire the famous Veiled Christ: a unique sculpture by Giuseppe Sanmartino in 1753, whose dramatic finesse of the shroud on the lifeless body of Jesus is absolutely stunning.
Just a few minutes walk from the San Severo Chapel, you can reach the Monumental Complex of Santa Chiara, which embraces the fourteenth-century Basilica with its bell tower and the adjacent majolica Cloister, where visitors can observe the scenes of everyday life beautifully painted by Andrea Vaccaro.
