Naples - Gateway to Campania

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1

   Walk the Street That Was Old Before Rome Was Born

   history Free

   Spaccanapoli — the arrow-straight street that has bisected Naples since 580 BC, when Greek colonists laid it out as the Decumanus Inferiore of their Neapolis.

   This is one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited streets — laid out by Greeks in 580 BC, making it 173 years older than Rome itself. Start at Piazza del Gesù Nuovo (40.847, 14.252) and walk the full 2km east along Via Benedetto Croce, then Via San Biagio dei Librai, following the ancient decumanus that Rome later copied across its empire. Every Baroque church sits on Greek or Roman foundations — the diamond-rusticated facade of Gesù Nuovo was originally a Renaissance palazzo, seized and converted in 1600. Stop at Santa Chiara's majolica-tiled cloister (€6), San Domenico Maggiore where Thomas Aquinas taught, and the tiny Santa Luciella ai Librai to find the famous 'skull with ears' that Neapolitans still leave offerings to.

   BACKUP: If the churches are closed (some close 12:30-3:30pm), the street itself is the experience. Sit at any bar along Via San Biagio dei Librai and order a coffee — you're doing exactly what Neapolitans have done on this exact ground for 2,600 years.

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2. 2

   Descend 40 Meters Below Naples to Touch Greek Quarry Walls from 320 BC

   history Price: low

   Napoli Sotterranea: 450km of tunnels beneath the city, where Greeks quarried tuff for their temples, Romans built aqueducts, and Neapolitans scratched their names into stone while Allied bombs fell 40 meters above.

   The tunnels drop 40 meters straight down into Greek quarries from 320 BC, where you'll turn sideways to squeeze through passages only wide enough for one person. Greeks extracted tuff blocks here for Neapolis's walls; Romans converted it to an aqueduct fed by springs 70km away (you can still see their hydraulic plaster); and Nero's personal theater dressing room was excavated beneath the apartments above. During WWII's 200 Allied bombing raids, entire neighborhoods sheltered here, scratching names and dates into stone. Enter at Piazza San Gaetano, 68 — the doorway looks like a minor church office.

   BACKUP: If Napoli Sotterranea is full, Galleria Borbonica (Vico del Grottone, 4, €10-15) offers a different underground experience — 19th century Bourbon royal escape tunnels. Less ancient, equally atmospheric.

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3. 3

   Find the Hercules Who Hid the Golden Apples Behind His Back for 200 Years

   history Price: moderate

   The MANN — Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli — holds the world's greatest Roman sculpture collection, the best Pompeii mosaics alive, and a locked room of erotic art that a Bourbon king tried to erase from history.

   The Farnese Hercules — 3.17 meters tall, signed by 'Glycon of Athens' — hides the Golden Apples of the Hesperides behind his back in his right hand, invisible from the front view that most visitors see. Found in 1546 buried in the Baths of Caracalla, this Roman copy of a lost Greek original shows Hercules resting after his 12th labor. Walk around him to find the apples. Then visit the Gabinetto Segreto (Room 65) — locked away for 181 years after King Francis I deemed the 250 sexually explicit Pompeii artifacts inappropriate for 'people of mature age and respected morals.' The Alexander Mosaic's 20,000 individual tesserae show Alexander defeating Darius III, made millimeter by millimeter in 100 BC. At Piazza Museo, 19 (Metro Line 1 to 'Museo'), budget 3 hours minimum.

   BACKUP: If there's a queue, the ticket booth at Piazza Museo opens at 8:45am — arrive then to walk straight in.

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4. 4

   Taste the Wine That Julius Caesar Drank 61 Years After the Harvest

   wine Price: low

   The Campanian wine trinity — Falanghina, Greco di Tufo, Aglianico — at Bucopertuso, the Centro Storico wine bar where locals drink, not tourists. Glasses from €3. This is where the Roman Odyssey ends with what it began with.

   Falanghina is the DNA-identical descendant of the grapes that produced Falernian wine — the Romans' greatest vintage, with a 121 BC bottle still being sold 160 years later under Caligula for 960 sesterces. When you taste its lemon-apricot brightness and volcanic mineral finish, you're experiencing what Julius Caesar drank at his Spanish triumph banquet in 60 BC. Order this progression at Bucopertuso (Via Giovanni Paladino, 21): Falanghina (€3-5), then Greco di Tufo from Irpinia — its sulfurous quality isn't a flaw but 2,500 years of volcanic terroir from the Greeks' Thessaly import. Finish with Aglianico, Pliny the Elder's 'Hellenic' grape, the Barolo of the South with enormous tannins that need time.

   BACKUP: If Bucopertuso is too crowded, L'Ebbrezza di Noè (Vico Vetriera a Chiaia, 9, Chiaia district) is the Decanter-recommended alternative — sommelier-owner Luca's cave-like enoteca with the deepest Campanian cellar in Naples. Open Tue-Sat from 4pm.

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5. 5

   Eat the Pizza That Was Supposedly Invented for a Queen (But Probably Wasn't)

   adventure Price: low

   Via Tribunali, Naples' pizza mile — and the truth about whether the Margherita was really invented for Queen Margherita of Savoy in 1889 or whether that letter is a forgery.

   In 1889, Raffaele Esposito supposedly created the Margherita for Queen Margherita of Savoy, but the royal letter thanking him has been forensically analyzed — wrong seal position, mismatched signature, and the combination was documented 23 years earlier in an 1866 cookbook. The royal origin story was brilliant marketing for a great pizza that already existed. Walk Via dei Tribunali (parallel to Spaccanapoli), the world's densest concentration of historic pizzerias. At Sorbillo (No. 32), order a Margherita (€5-7) and study the UNESCO-protected technique: 72-hour fermented dough withstanding 485°C for exactly 90 seconds while mozzarella water expels at the perfect rate.

   BACKUP: Any pizzeria on Via Tribunali. Di Matteo (No. 94, open until midnight 6 days a week) is the less-famous, more-local choice. Avoid anywhere with photographs of food on an outdoor menu board.

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Insider Tips

• Archaeological Museum has the finest Roman collection

• Spaccanapoli street is the ancient Greek-Roman grid

• Wine bars in Centro Storico are excellent

• Connect to Ager Falernus adventure from here