Naples Attractions

A short distance southeast of the Porta Capuana in the spacious Piazza Garibaldi is the Central Station, built in 1960-64 some 250m/275yd east of the old station.

Corso Malta is a flea market located at the corner of Poggioreale district. The market is held every Monday and Friday.

The Open-Air Film Festival, held annually for at least twomonths, showcases the best of European and International Cinema. Watch films beneath the stars in an amphiteatre equipped with one of the widest projection screens in Italy, rising up above an artificial lake.

The Festival of San Gennaro is held on September 19. It's a religious ceremony to honor the patron saint of the city. It is believed that if the statue of San Gennaro cries on this day, the fortune of the city is affected.

The initial 9.5km/6 mi section of the 16km/10mi Line 1 of the Naples Metro and light Rail opened late in 1992/93. There are nine stations and the trains run every three minutes. This is the outer portion linking Vanvitelli and Secondigliano. The central section, 5km/3mi from Vanvitelli to Dante, incorporates a dramatic underground spiral loop that descends to the city center, is unlikely to open before 1997. A further portion, from Dante to Garibaldi, is awaiting approval.

Operation of the metro is in the hands of the state railroad FS. An extension to the present line, three other lines and two funiculars have been proposed for construction.

Along the east side of the Piazza del Plesbiscito is the Palazzo Reale, the former Royal Palace, begun in 1600 by Dominico Fontana and restored in 1837-41. On the facade (169m/185yd) are eight marble statues of the various kings who ruled Naples. The palace contains a grand staircase of white marble (1651), a theater, seventeen richly appointed state apartments and the valuable Biblioteca Nazionale (1,500,000 volumes, 12,000 manuscripts, 5,000 incunabula).

Corso Umberto I runs into the Piazza Giovanni Bovio, with the new Exchange and an old Fountain of Neptune.

Adjoining the Piazza Trieste e Trento on the south is the large Piazza del Plesbiscito, occupied on the west side by the church of San Francesco di Paola (1817-46), an imitation of the Pantheon in Rome.

Adjoining the Town Hall the church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli (1540) has behind the high altar, the sumptuous tomb of Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo, founder of the church.

Northwest of Santa Maria del Carmine, in the Piazza del Mercato, is the church of Santa Croce al Mercato, on the spot on which Conradin was executed on October 29th 1268 on the orders of Charles I of Anjou. Inside the church, to the left of the entrance, a commemorative porphyry column can be seen.

From the Central Station the Corso Garibaldi runs south to Piazza G. Pepe, to the right of which stands the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, containing the tomb of Conradin of Hohenstaufen, Frederick II's grandson, who was beheaded at the age of sixteen. Above the tomb is a statue of Conradin from a design by Thorwaldsen (1847).

In the center of the Piazza del Municipio, which is laid out in gardens, stands an equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II (1897). On the west side of the square is the fine Town Hall (1819-25), originally built to house government departments.

From Piazza Garibaldi the broad Corso Umberto I runs southwest to the University, with its massive main building (1908) facing the street and behind it the former Jesuit college (1605) which was the only university building from 1777 to 1908. To the east is the church of Santi Severino e Sossio (1494; rebuilt 1731 onwards).