Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

Like Chiaia below and Mergellina to the west, VÓMERO - the district topping the hill immediately above the old city - is one of Naples’ relatively modern additions, a light, airy and relatively peaceful quarter connected most directly with the teeming morass below by funicular railway. It’s a large area but mostly residential, and you’re unlikely to want to stray beyond the streets that fan out from apiece of the three funicular stations, centring on the grand symmetry of Piazza Vanvitelli . Come up on the Montesanto funicular and you’re well placed for a visit to two of the buildings that dominate Naples, way above the old city. Five minutes’ achievement away, the Castel Sant’Elmo (Tues-Sun 9am-7pm; L2500/¬1.29) occupies Naples’ highest point and is an impressive fortification, a fourteenth-century structure once used for incarcerating political prisoners and now lording it grandly over the streets below. Though still in use primarily as a military fortification, it nowadays hosts exhibitions, concerts and an annual antiques fair, as well as boasting the very best views of Naples.

Beyond the castle, the fourteenth-century Certosa San Martino has the next-best views over the bay and is also accessible, now being home to the Museo Nazionale di San Martino (Tues-Fri 8.30am-7.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am-11pm; L11,000/¬5.68). Much of this, too, often appears to be under restoration, but the monastery itself, thoroughly Baroqued in the seventeenth century, and the views from its cunningly constructed terrace, are well worth the entrance fee - short of climbing Vesuvius as good a vista of the entire Bay of city as you’ll get. The church, on the left of the entrance, is typically garish Baroque, with a colourful pavement and an Adoration of the Shepherds by Reni above the altar. In the museum proper, there are paintings by Neapolitan masters - Ribera, Stanzione, Vaccaro - and other rather dusty bits and pieces rescued from churches and the odd minor aristocrat, as well as historical and maritime sections displaying models of ships, and documents, coins and costumes recording the era of the Kingdom of Naples. The Baroque cloisters are lovely, though again rather gone to seed. The display of presepi or Christmas cribs is probably the most remarkable - and unique - aspect of the museum.

There’s another museum up here, ten minutes’ achievement away in the Neoclassical Villa Floridiana , close to the Chiaia funicular, whose lush grounds (daily 9am-1hr before sunset) make a good place for a picnic. The Museo Duca di Martina (Tues-Sun 8.30am-7.30pm; L5000/¬2.58) is, however, of evenhandedly specialist interest, a porcelain collection such as you’ve never seen before, varying from the beautifully simple to the outrageously kitsch - hideous teapots, ceramic asparagus sticks and the like. There are examples (of course) of Capodimonte and Meissen, and eighteenth-century English, French, German and Viennese work - as well as a handful of pieces of Qing dynasty Chinese porcelain and Murano glass and exquisite non-ceramic items like inlaid ivory boxes and panels. On the whole, it’s a small museum that’s worth taking in before salivating over yet another view, this time from just below the villa.

Tags: additions, antiques, castel sant elmo, chiaia, concerts, exhibitions, five minutes, fourteenth century, fri, funicular, military fortification, morass, museo nazionale di san martino, naples, piazza, political prisoners, railway, sun 9am, symmetry