Page 499 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

NAPLES  497

P Galleria Umberto I
Via Toledo. Open daily. Teatro San
Carlo: Tel 081 797 23 31. Open Aug,
rehearsals and performances. 8
9am–5:30pm daily (081 66 45 45 to
book). & 7 ∑ teatrosancarlo.it
Once a focus for fashionable
Neapolitans, the handsome
arcades of the Galleria Umberto I
were built in 1887 and rebuilt
after World War II. They face
Italy’s largest and oldest opera
house: the Teatro San Carlo.
Built for Charles of Bourbon in
1737, and later rebuilt, its fine
auditorium once aroused envy
in the courts of Europe. Danaë and the Shower of Gold by Titian in the Museo di Capodimonte
The building houses the Botticelli, Raphael and Perugino,
Biblioteca Nazionale (library). The much of it originating in the
exterior has been partly restored Farnese family collections. There
and Piazza del Plebiscito has been is also a gallery of 19th-century
cleaned up. The great colonnades art, largely from southern Italy.
sweep towards 19th-century
San Francesco di Paola, T Catacombs of San Gennaro
modelled on Rome’s Pantheon. Via di Capodimonte 13. Tel 081 744 37
14. Open 10am–5pm daily (to 2pm
P Villa Floridiana Sun). 8 call to book visit. &
Via Aniello Falcone 171. Tel 081 578 84 ∑ catacombedinapoli.it
18. Open 8:30am–4pm Wed–Mon. 8 These catacombs – the original
7 Park: Open daily. Closed 1 Jan, burial place of San Gennaro – are
1 May, 15 Aug, 25 Dec. & Museum: near the church of San Gennaro
Magnificent glass-roofed interior of the Open 9am–1pm Wed–Mon. in Moenia. The small church was
Galleria Umberto I Set in handsome gardens, this founded in the 8th century, and is
Neo-Classical villa houses the adjoined by a 17th-century work -
P Palazzo Reale Museo Nazionale della Ceramica house. Two tiers of catacombs
Piazza Plebiscito. Museo: Tel 081 40 05 Duca di Martina, famous for its dating from the 2nd century
47. Open 9am–8pm Thu–Tue (last adm: ceramics collection, including penetrate the tufa, and there
1 hr before closing). Closed 1 Jan, 1 May, porcelain and majolica. are mosaics and early Christian
25 Dec. & 8 Biblioteca: Tel 081 781 frescoes. Further along the street,
92 31. Open 8:30am–7pm Mon–Fri (to E Museo di Capodimonte the Catacombs of San Gaudioso
1:30pm Sat). Bring ID. ∑ palazzo Parco di Capodimonte. Tel 081 749 91 honour the 5th-century saint who
realenapoli.it or coopculture.it 11. Open 8:30am–7:30pm Thu–Tue. founded a monastery on the spot.
Begun by Domenico Fontana & ∑ museocapodimonte. Above is the 17th-century church
for the Spanish Viceroys in 1600, beniculturali.it of Santa Maria della Sanità.
and expanded by subsequent Begun in 1738 by the Bourbon
residents, Naples’ royal palace is a king Charles III as a hunting + Castel dell’Ovo
handsome edifice with great halls lodge, the Palazzo Reale di Borgo Marinari. Tel 081 795 45 93.
filled with furniture, tapes tries, Capodimonte houses this Open 9am–6:30pm daily (to 7:30pm
paintings and porcelain. The small museum and its magnificent in summer; to 2pm Sun & hols).
private Teatro di Corte (1768) collections of Italian paintings. & for exhibitions.
was built by Ferdinando Fuga. Included are works by Titian, This castle, begun in 1154, is on a
small island facing, and joining,
the Santa Lucia district – once
the site of the city’s shellfish
market. A royal residence under
the Normans and Hohenstaufen,
today it belongs to the army and
hosts interesting exhibitions.
Beneath its ramparts, tiny
Porta Santa Lucia is filled with
seafood restaurants, and the
Via Partenope running past
The façade of the Palazzo Reale, Naples’ royal palace it is a lovely promenade.

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