Location and neighbourhood

The story and modernity of Edenlandia, born as a people’s park, make it a must see. It is Europe’s oldest amusement park. The first child crossed its famous monumental arches, marking the park’s entrance, in 1965. Keeping abreast of the times, in 2018 Edenlandia was proclaimed the first and only food and leisure park in Italy. Located in the heart of Naples’ Fuorigrotta neighbourhood, the large park – entry to which is free – offers its public a great many attractions, rides, food courts, concerts, events, parties, catering to all ages and tastes.

www.edenlandia.it

Naples Zoo has been completely refurbished in recent years and is an unmissable attraction for young and old. The park is a green oasis in the heart of Naples, with over 400 animals and more than 200 plant species. The project for the construction of the Naples Zoo was led by Luigi Piccinato, who built architecturally remarkable pavilions, like that of the pachyderms, the reptiles and the large bird-of-prey aviary.

Naples’ Mostra d’Oltremare, which was inaugurated as Mostra Triennale delle Terre Italiane d’Oltremare on 9 May 1940, is the largest monumental exhibition centre in Italy; its spaces, covering 62 ha, perform diverse and complementary functions. The exhibition halls for events and trade fairs, the Palacongressi congress centre, the Olympic swimming pool, the Arena Flegrea and its other facilities make it the ideal location for the organisation of concerts, trade fairs and business events.

Naples’ San Paolo Stadium, inaugurated in 1959, is the third largest in Italy, after Milan’s Meazza and Rome’s Olympic Stadium. The field covers an area of 110 x 68 m and is located in the Fuorigrotta neighbourhood. It is best known for the football games organised there: it is the home of Napoli FC.

The Pausilypon Archaeological Park is located within the “Gaiola Underwater Park” Protected Marine Area. The impressive archaeological visit starts with the imposing entry to the Cave of Sejanus, which is actually an artificial tunnel built in the Roman era. The tunnel, approx. 780 m long (width: 4-7 m; height: 4-9 m) passes beneath the Posillipo tufaceous hill and links the area of Bagnoli and of the Phlegraean Fields with the Gaiola Valley. The area includes the extraordinary archaeological remains of a theatre with a beautiful structure, built taking advantage of the hill’s natural slope. Currently it is possible to visit a stretch of about 2 km, from Discesa Coroglio, via the Cave of Sejanus, to the theatre area.

www.areamarinaprotettagaiola.it

Astroni Nature Reserve is one of the wonders of the Phlegraean Fields: an entire volcanic crater covered by Mediterranean plants. It was used by the Romans for its geothermal waters (the baths have never been discovered) and by various Neapolitan dynasties as hunting grounds, from the 15th to the 19th century. Nowadays, the Astroni Crater is a WWF reserve that offers a picnic area at the bottom of the crater, observation walkways on the banks of the lake, rich vegetation for birdwatching.

www.crateredegliastroni.org

The Virgilian Park is a panoramic park in the Posillipo neighbourhood. It was built in the late 1920s and early 1930s on order of the High Commissariat for the Province of Naples and opened in 1931 (year IX of the Fascist era) as Victory or Beauty park. It was then named the Park of Remembrance; later, on the initiative of Guido Della Valle, it was named “Virgilian Park” after the Roman poet. It covers an area of approx. 92,000 sq.m. on the promontory of the Posillipo hill. The park features a system of terraces that overlook the bay of Naples. Indeed, in one look the visitor is able to take in the islands of Procida, Ischia and Capri, the islet of Nisida, the bay of Pozzuoli and the entire bay of Naples.

Virgiliano.it

Virgil’s Park is a park in Naples, located in the Piedigrotta area, behind the church of the same name, famous for housing the tombs of Giacomo Leopardi and Virgil. In the park you can see Virgil’s cenotaph, a Roman columbarium traditionally believed to be the poet’s tomb. Since 22 February 1939, the park has also housed the tomb of Giacomo Leopardi, who died in Naples and was initially buried in the church of San Vitale Martire in Fuorigrotta.

Parco Vergiliano

The construction of the Angevin Keep started in 1279, during the reign of Charles I of Anjou, on designs by the French architect Pierre de Chaule. Due to its strategic position, the new castle was not just a royal residence but also a fortress. Since the very start it has been known as “New Castle”, to distinguish it from the older castles of Ovo and Capuano. During the reign of Robert of Anjou, the Castle became a hub of culture and hosted artists, doctors and scholars, including Giotto, Petrarch and Boccaccio.

The castle you see today is the result of 1,000 years of military occupation, going back to the Norman period. The Aragonese gave the fortress its current form in the 16th century: before then, it housed a monastic community.

Its name originates from an ancient legend, according to which the Latin poet Virgil hid an egg in the building’s dungeons that kept the entire fortress standing. Had the egg broken, not only would the castle have collapsed, but a series of disasters would have destroyed the city of Naples.

www.comune.napoli.it

The construction of the Royal Palace of Capodimonte started in 1738, in the area adjacent to the Forest of the same name, where in 1734 Charles VII, king of Naples and Sicily, decided to establish a large game reserve and a Court residence, in a fine location that offered a sweeping view of the bay and the city below. The main exhibits of the Capodimonte museum include the Farnese collections, which feature some of the biggest names of Italian and international art (among whom Raphael, Titian, Parmigianino, Bruegel the Elder, El Greco), and the Bourbon collection. The Museum extends over three floors: the first floor houses, other than the historic Apartment, the rich Farnese collection; the Neapolitan gallery is located on the second floor; the third floor showcases the collection of 19th-century and contemporary art.

www.museocapodimonte.beniculturali.it

The works for the construction of the Royal Palace began in the 17th century, under the reign of the Spanish viceroys, on designs by the Neapolitan architect Domenico Fontana. The majority of the palace was completed in two years, although a certain number of features (e.g. the staircase) were added 50 years later. The Bourbon kings extended the building to the east in the mid-18th century, adding niches to the facade. The interior of the palace took on its current Neoclassical form under the French rule in the early 19th century; the hanging gardens and the statues of the kings of Naples were added later that century.

The Royal Palace also houses the National Library with its vast reading rooms and collections of manuscripts and musty books, some of which date back to the 5th century.

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples boasts the richest and most precious collection of archaeological artworks and artefacts in Italy and is considered one of the most important archaeological museums in the world, if not the most important with regard to the history of the Roman era. The museum is made up of three main sections: the Farnese collection (consisting of finds from Rome and its neighbouring areas), the Pompeii collections (with finds from the area of the Vesuvius, mainly part of the Bourbon collections), and the Egyptian collection, which is the second most important in Italy after the collection of the Egyptian Museum of Turin. These and other sectors of the museum consist of private collections, such as the Borgia, Santangelo, Stevens and Spinelli collections.

www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it

Under the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità, the core of the district with the same name, lies what was the second most important early Christian cemetery in the city. Connected with the hill of Capodimonte in Roman times and used as water cisterns, these labyrinthine catacombs started being used as burial grounds from the 5th century onwards. In 452, the burial of San Gaudioso – a North African bishop and hermit – turned the site into an important sanctuary.

www.catacombedinapoli.it

For many years, Naples’ deep underground was the source of the tufa used to build the city, thus creating underground recesses, caves and galleries that tell a story that runs parallel to that of overground Naples. In the underground city people lived a different life, taking advantage of its recesses in a thousand ways, also using it as invaluable shelter during the bombings of the Second World War.

www.lanapolisotterranea.it o www.napolisotterranea.org

Located in the centre of Naples’ historic centre, the Sansevero Chapel Museum is a jewel of the international art heritage. With masterpieces such as the famous “Veiled Christ”, whose image is renowned around the world thanks to the prodigious “texture” of the marble veil, wonders of virtuosity such as “The Release from Deception”, and enigmatic presences such as the Anatomical Machines, the Sansevero Chapel is one of the most unique monuments ever conceived by human ingenuity.

www.museosansevero.it