Naples


 
Tour options: Naples upside down; Esoteric Naples; Naples Solfatara; Naples and Museum
Half day excursion: Naples
 
The largest city of Campania, capital of the province and the region, Naples is the third most populated city in Italy (after Rome and Milan), with over a million inhabitants, and is the most important industrial center and trading port for the South. It is situated halfway down the Tyrrenia coast, at the innermost point of the Bay of Naples, between Vesuvius and the Phlegrean Fields.  It has a mild and constant climate, with average temperatures of 16° C and a serene sky for at least half the year. Among the major industries are metalworking, oil refineries, mechanics (naval and railroad), electricity and food producing. The artistic crafting of coral and tortoise shell flourishes. 
excursion and transfer to Naples  A point of embarkation for emigrants in the past, Naples now has a large traffic of merchandise (petroleum, carbon, cereals) and passengers. It is the largest Italian port, with a noteworthy nexus of railway and highways and a large international airport. In the vast urban area one can distinguish many different neighborhoods: the old center, characterized by buildings closely crowded together, is bordered on the west by the new administrative district and on the east by the business district, into which flows almost all the road and rail traffic. Other neighborhoods, with narrow climbing streets, rise around the base of the San Martino and Capodimonte hills. These neighborhoods have experienced intense development, typically of the simpler kind, in contrast to that of the residential neighborhoods that stretch out comfortably along the Vomero and Posillipo hills.
 

The Archaeological National Museum of Naples

The Archaeological National Museum of Naples is one of the most important ones in the world. The palace housing the museum was built in the late period of the 16th century as a military barrack, than it was turned into the seat of the Royal Studies. After the arrival of Charles of Bourbon as king of Naples in the 18th Century it was used to contain the Bourbon Museum and the Royal Library. A number of exeptional events contributed to its development, like the acquirement of the Farnese collection, inherited by Charles of Bourbon from his mother Elisabetta Farnese at the beginning of the 19th century, and the display of archaeological findings from Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae. The Farnese Collection contains many wonderful sculptures from the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, like the Bull, which is the largest existing sculpture from Ancient Times, and the magnificent statue of Hercules. Visiting the gems collection you’ll be attracted by the Farnese Cup, which dates back to 150 BC. and it is considered to be the largest cameos of the world. Many of the mosaics displayed in the museum come from the House of Faun located in Pompeii. The most famous one depicts the Battle of Issus, a fight between Alexander the Great and Darius of Persi, and it is made of more than 1.500.000 small, coloured marble pieces. The Secret Cabinet is a very impressive collection of erothic scenes and tools from Pompeii and Herculaneum. The frescoes are splendid examples of the painting developement through the first Century B.C. and the First Century A.D. They were all restored and redisplayed to give us a great idea of the everyday life in the Roman cities during Ancient times. Eventually, the Villa dei Papiri from Herculaneum shows us some original Roman papyri, the Temple of Isis from Pompeii has plenty of evidences of a foreign religion and the glass collection is particularly famous thanks to its masterpiece, the Blue Vase.
 

Certosa and Museum of S. Martino

For those who arrive in Naples on board of a cruise ship it will be very easy to recognize the imposing building of the Charterhouse of S. Martino, built on a tufa hill dominating the whole town.It was begun By Tino da Camaino, under request of Charles of Anjou, in 1325, but the original gothic decoration was totally covered during the renovation works started in the 16th century and ended in the 18th one, which turned a place of meditation into the most complete example of Neapolitan Baroque. The inside of the church is a splendid anthology of Neapolitan arts. Most of the frescoes are works by Giovanni Lanfranco and Battistello Caracciolo, the paintings on the walls of the choir were made by Ribera, Massimo Stanzione and Guido Reni, the vault of the Treasure Chapel was decorated by Luca Giordano and depicts The Triumph of Judith.
The rooms around the cloister house the Museum of S. Martino, which has a particularly interesting section about Naples and its history, including the famous Tavola Strozzi, the first neapolitan view dating back to the 15th century.
Very attractive is also the cribs’ section, containing the Cuciniello Crib, one of the best Nativities of the 1800’s, as well as the Prior’s Apartment, set in a very panoramic location.
Only few years ago even the Pharmacy was re-open to the public and, last but not least, they restored the naval section as well, with splendid examples of original Bourbon boats.
 

The "Museo nazionale di Capodimonte"

The Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte is situated in a huge park which is ideal for strolling, lying on the grass and relaxing from the stressful life of the city.
Charles of Bourbon ordered the construction of a new royal palace on the hill of Capodimonte because that area was particularly suitable for hunting at that time. The work began in September 1738 under the supervision of Antonio Medrano and ended more than one hundred years later.A wing of the palace itself was then turned into a museum, where to display the paintings of the Farnese collection inherited from Charles's mother, Elisabetta Farnese.During the second half of the nineteenth century, The Farnese and Bourbon Armery was moved to the palace, together with the porcelain drawing room of queen Mary Amelie of Saxony, which had been made for the Royal Palace of Portici.The present arrangement displays the Farnese painting collection on the first floor, with italian and flemish paintings from the Renaissance and the mannerist periods (don't miss the Tiziano's Danae, Judith and Holophernes by Artemisia Gentileschi, paintings by Bruegel, El Greco, Parmigianino, Correggio). On the second floor there is the permanent Neapolitan collection which contains mostly works of the sensational local barock painting school (Stanzione, Pretti, Caracciolo, Giordano ect.). The highlights of this part are: the Caravaggio's Flagellation of Christ, Guido Reni's Atalanta and Hippomenes of and Ribera's Apollo and Marsyas. As additional attractions we have to 
mention the royal apartments (mostly the beautiful porcelain room)and the small but interesting section of contemporary art (Cunellis, Warhol ect.)



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