10 must visit places or things to do in Naples, Italy.
1. Via Toledo is an ancient street and one of the most important shopping thoroughfare in the city of Naples.
2. Royal Palace of Naples
The palace of the House of Bourbon as well as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
3. San Francesco di Paola
A prominent church located to the west in Piazza del Plebiscito. The façade is fronted by a portico resting on six columns and two Ionic pillars.
The church is reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome, with a 53 metres high dome.
4. Toledo Metro
The dazzling Toledo metro station is the most beautiful transit station in Europe!
Each level of the station is designed around a different color representing a different theme related to the city.
The deepest level is covered in varying shades of blue bisazza mosaics offering an ocean ambiance.
Going higher, the walls become ochre and yellow, alluding to the colors of Neapolitan tuff and the sun.
5. Fountain of Neptune
Located in Municipio square, a beautiful statue of Neptune with trident on top of a saucer held up by nymphs and satyrs.
6. The 100 wolves of iron
Near the Fountain of Neptune was a giant temporary conceptual installation by Chinese artist Liu Ruowang. The work intends to represent the dangers to existence of the human race and wants to encourage humanity to face adversity with courage and perseverance.
7. San Domenico Maggiore
Gothic, Roman Catholic church and monastery, founded by the friars of the Dominican Order, and located in the square of the same name. The Church incorporates a smaller, original church built on this site in the 10th century, San Michele Arcangelo a Morfisa. Charles II of Naples began the rebuilding that produced the gothic structure that comprises the present church. Over the centuries, the church has undergone many modifications, notably the highly decorative and theatrical ‘Baroque’ style interiors.
8. Pompeii
A short train journey from Naples, around the Mount Vesuvius will take you to the ancient city of Pompeii. An eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 buried Pompeii under 20 feet of volcanic ash and pumice. The tragic event in the city offers a unique snapshot of Roman life, frozen at the moment it was buried, and an extraordinarily detailed insight into the everyday life of its inhabitants.
Organic remains, including wooden objects and human bodies, were entombed in the ashes. Among the discoveries from the ruins of Pompeii was an Indian ivory statuette named ‘Pompeii Lakshmi’ dated back to first century CE, indicating the evidence of Indo-Roman trade.
Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors annually.
9. Galleria Umberto I
Galleria Umberto I is a public shopping gallery built between 1887–1891, meant to combine social life and private space – businesses, shops, cafes, and apartments together. and was the cornerstone in the decades-long rebuilding of Naples, the ‘Risanameto’. The Galleria is a high and spacious cross-shaped structure, surmounted by a glass dome braced by 16 metal ribs. Galleria Umberto I is part of the UNESCO listing of the Historic Centre of Naples as a World Heritage Site.
10. Napoli Sotteranea
100 feet underneath the city of Naples lies an astonishing underground labrynth of caves that spans over 400 kilometres! These caves have a history of 2800 years starting from when the Greeks first arrived at the city of Neapolis. For most of its history, the Sotterenea was used as a cistern of water reservoir for the city of Naples, but during the WWII, it served as a shelter for the citizens of Naples.
And many more, like, busy shopping streets, Piazza Dante, oldest pizzeria, Gesù Nuovo and The Spire of the Immaculate Virgin, 4th century Greek walls, and the Vesuvius itself!