NAPLES TOURS - visitpompeii

THE HISTORIC CENTRE OF NAPLES - SPACCANAPOLI AND ITS TREASURES
SPACCANAPOLI
The street we know today as “Spaccanapoli” follows the path of the original Roman Decumano Inferiore, slicing through the very heart of the Historic Centre. On either side of this main artery of central Naples stand the grandest monumental buildings, amongst them the Monastero of Santa Chiara, Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo and Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore.
The Historic Centre of Naples is unlike anywhere else in the world, with a rich variety of elements spanning three thousand years of civilisation crowded together, harmoniously surviving alongside one another. Here we can spot the evolution of a city born long ago, which developed over time - assuming the styles of each era, absorbing and encompassing them in its narrative.History is brought alive through the everyday language, shops, grocery barrows, features, colours, tastes and moods of the Neapolitan people.
All this makes exploring the heart of the city an intriguing adventure, an experience of lasting significance for those able to recognise in this unique universe the sense of continuity between past and present, and the unity between styles, cultures and traditions as they merge to live together in free and joyful spontaneity.


BAROQUE CULTURE AND CARAVAGGIO IN NAPLES CAPPELLA SANSEVERO
The Chapel, founded originally to honour a sacred vow, was slowly transformed into a grander place for family burials by the descendents of Giovanni Francesco di Sangro, who lived in the second half of the 16th century.
The area where one sees the Chapel today had been a garden belonging to this Duke until thelate 1500s, with a painting of the Madonna della Pietà on one of its walls. The holy image, with the clemency it granted, had already shown itself to be miraculous; when an innocent man was being dragged past on the way to prison one day, the outside wall of the garden felldown, suddenly revealing the miraculous image to the captive’s eyes. From this simplest ofevents came the origins of the Chapel - the poor wretch fervently implored the Madonna, vowing that if she acknowledged his innocence he would gift a silver lamp to light her portraitand repaint the image anew. As quickly as he obtained his liberty, he fulfilled his promised vow and in only a short time the fame of this Madonna began to grow.
Later, when illness had brought Giovan Francesco di Sangro near to death, he implored the sacred image to heal him, promising to erect a small chapel.
His
wish was also granted and, onregaining his health, in 1590 he began construction of that chapel, which was a small templevery different to the current one, to where he moved the image that had originally been painted on the outdoor wall.
The family’s Cappella Sansevero may have had the form and size of the current one, but at first lacked the richness and splendour that caused its celebrity in the mid-1700s, after Raimondo di Sangro had embellished and adorned it in the manner we see today.
The Chapel is particularly renowned for a statue of the “Veiled Christ”, the work of Neapolitan sculptor Giuseppe Sammartino.


HISTORICAL TOUR OF NAPLES
Duration 6 hours
Itinerary : the guide will meet you (by the gangplank of your boat in the Port of Naples or by the train station platform at Napoli Centrale or at your
resort) starting the day in the morning with a visit to the ancient city centre ( based on a grid system)along the Greek road of Spacca-Napoli to the Cathedral ( Chapel of Saint Gennaro - a Baroque masterpiece) then onto St Gregorio Armeno (famous for the Nativity scene workshops), and by request the Chapel Saint Severo ( closed on Thursday) to admire the veiled Christ, together with Saint Chiara with its majolica cloisters. Near to the 'Decumani' the old greek street we'll stop for lunch in the Pizzeria Sorbillo ( best pizza in Naples !).
Then onto the Gesù Nuovo Square  continuing on to Plebiscito Square, where you can admire the facade of the Royal Palace, walking through Via Toledo, the centre of Neapolitan shopping, and then the magnificent Gallery Umberto I, next to the San Carlo Opera House.

HISTORICAL TOUR OF NAPLES
Duration 3 hours
Itinerary : the guide will meet you (by the gangplank of your boat in the Port of Naples or by the train station platform at Napoli Centrale or at your
resort) starting the day in the morning with a visit to the ancient city centre ( based on a grid system)along the Greek road of Spacca-Napoli to the Cathedral ( Chapel of Saint Gennaro - a Baroque masterpiece) then onto St Gregorio Armeno (famous for the Nativity scene workshops), and by request the Chapel Saint Severo ( closed on Thursday) to admire the veiled Christ, together with Saint Chiara with its majolica cloisters. By the 'Decumani' the old greek street we'll stop for lunch in the Pizzeria Sorbillo ( best pizza in Naples !).

HISTORICAL NAPLES AND CAPODIMONTE GALLERY
Duration 5 hours.
Itinerary : the guide will meet you (by the gangplank of your boat in the Port of Naples or by the train station platform at Napoli Centrale or at your
resort) starting the day in the morning with a visit to the ancient city centre ( based on a grid system) along the Greek road of Spacca-Napoli to the Cathedral ( Chapel of Saint Gennaro - a Baroque masterpiece) then onto St Gregorio Armeno (famous for the Nativity scene workshops), and by request the Chapel Saint Severo ( closed on Thursday) to admire the veiled Christ, together with Saint Chiara with its majolica cloisters. By the 'Decumani' the old greek street we'll stop for lunch in the Pizzeria Sorbillo ( best pizza in Naples !).
Then onto the Gesù Nuovo Square  continuing on to Plebiscito Square, where you can admire the facade of the Royal Palace, walking through Via Toledo, the centre of Neapolitan shopping, and then the magnificent Gallery Umberto I, next to the San Carlo Opera House. By bus we'll go to the Capodimonte Art Gallery where we can visit the Royal Palace Halls with original artefacts of the Kings of Naples and the Farnese collection which Charles of Bourbon in 1734 had inherited from his mother Elisabetta including the greater Italian and European works of painters such as Raphael, Sebastiano Del Piombo, Titian, El Greco, the Carracci brothers, Botticelli and Caravaggio