8 Things You Must Do In Naples

Ah - the beautiful chaos of Napoli! I'm in love with this city.

Did you know that Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world?? Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the second millennium BC. 

lovers and families in Naples

Naples is gritty and raw, and a bit dirty. It is also fast, sexy and very exciting. 

This beautiful city is the gateway to the more refined and subdued Amalfi Coast, the main access point to the incredibly chic Capri, the spa-like island of Ischia, and to one of the 10 most colorful places on earth, the gorgeous and quaint little island of Procida. 

Her suburbs include Pompeii and Herculaneum ( Read my blogpost about Pompeii: Things You Probably Didn't Know About Pompeii)

Naples is a heartbeat city. Alive, vibrant and fun, a city you absolutely need to experience.

On foot. Even with all the miles I have racked up driving the length and breadth of Italy and Sicily you couldn't pay me to drive in the madness that is Naples. Even on a scooter.

A vacation on the Amalfi Coast needs at least a day devoted to Napoli. But once you've spent a day in Naples you will leave itching to get back for more. A week wouldn't be enough time to see it all in Naples!

Here are 8 Things You Must Do In Naples.

1. Drink Coffee. 

Italy has the best coffee in the world, and Naples has the best coffee in all of Italy. Start your day in Naples with a quick caffe or macchiato, and then stop throughout the day to get refueled. 
Neopolitan coffee is very, very strong. It tastes like no other coffee on earth. In a way, it ruins you, because after coffee in Napoli every coffee you drink pales by comparison. Just don't go past 9 in one day...

 News articles have told of unfortunates who drank ten espressi in one day and keeled over dead as a result. 

2. Walk Spaccanapoli

Spaccanapoli, literally split Naples, is a perfectly straight street that dates back 2000 years to Greek times. It runs right through the heart of Naples' historic center. 
Walking Spaccanapoli you experience a sensory overload of everything you've ever thought Naples to be. It is narrow and vertical, built up high with fantastic old buildings. At street level it is teeming with life, a visual explosion of shops and people and restaurants, and, well, life!
The sounds of Spaccanapoli are wonderful and loud. Neopolitans don't talk, they shout. And gesture, and emote. They are wonderful!
Don't forget to look up and see the laundry strung out across the street, drying in the coastal breeze.

3. Eat Baba. 

This light as air cake is smothered in a rum syrup. Or maybe it's pure rum? Who knows - I could swear I got a little buzz from it.

Either way Baba is a must.

4. Walk and walk and walk. 

This is definitely not a city to view from a bus window. Hit the street and make a circuit from the train station down past the university, cut through to the Plaza Plebiscito, walk up through San Carlos,  the mall Galleria Umberto and see the exquisite Buildings being restored to their former elegance. 

From there head up to Spaccanapoli, a lone, narrow road that literally splits Naples in half. There is so much to see here! Santa Chiara and it's amazing  cloisters, the cathedral of San Gregorio Armeno and via San Gregorio Armeno where you can buy the world famous presepi. 

These are nativity scenes and individual items from nativity scenes which are an integral part of the Italian Christmas. Every home has one. 

They are not just the 3 Wise Men and Jesus in the manger, the Neopolitan presepi include everyone who lives  in the village. They are so detailed and spectacular and special!You can buy entire nativity scenes to bring home, or individual Christmas decoration pieces. 

One thing I found amazing about spending time in Campania in December was the presepi set up on random little streets by members of the community, replete with hundreds of individual pieces, some of them very very old. 

part of a presepi outside on the street in Salerno

No one stole any pieces, no one damaged any of it, stray cats didn't knock anything over. They were just there for everyone to enjoy. I can't imagine one lasting one night here in America.

5 Visit subterranean Napoli. 

Beneath the heart of the espresso-fueled madness of the city is a geothermal zone called Campi Flegrei, full of fascinating tunnels, catacombs and caves, galleries, Roman roads, early Christian burial sites, frescoes and mosaics. Take a tour and see the galleries the Romans used for their engineering works, see ruins of a Roman theater and typical Neopolitan houses called basso. 
After the volume life is lived at up above you will welcome the almost silence here below. 

Discover the best hotels in Naples

6 Visit The Veiled Christ

The Veiled Christ at Cappella Sansevero will take your breath away. 
How on earth did Giuseppe Sammartino do that? 
Sculpted in marble in 1753, the veiled Christ is considered to be one of the world's sculptural masterpieces. The veil actually brings out the body even more than a regular sculpture (did that make sense?), the shroud or veil adhering perfectly to his form, somehow making Jesus' suffering and the pain in his face palpable. 
Don't be surprised if this statue brings you to tears. And don't miss it if you are in the Naples area. ( the Cappello Sansavero is closed on Tuesdays, so work your entire trip around being in Naples on any other of the 6 days of the week).

7 Visit The Caravaggios.

Caravaggio lived and painted for a little less than 4 years in Naples. After murdering a man in Malta he returned to Naples, where he in turn was murdered to avenge the Maltese.

Of the three remaining Caravaggios in Napoli, perhaps the most spectacular is the Seven Acts Of Mercy, a life sized dark and chaotic piece housed in Pio Monte Della Misericordia.
This is art historian Andrew Graham Dixon's favorite painting by his favorite painter. Hearing him speak about it, or reading his book on Caravaggio (A Life Sacred And Profane) will turn you too into a devotee. If you only see one Caravaggio while you are in Naples, make it this one.

8 Eat Pizza

Of course you know you have to eat pizza in Naples! This is the best pizza in the world.

A couple of notes on Napoli

The best way to arrive and depart Napoli is by sea.
I have arrived by overnight ferry from Sicily at 6 in the morning, and I have sailed to Sicily from Naples as the sun was going down.
The Bay of Naples is really beautiful.
Arriving by car or by train you have to traverse endless awful suburbs crawling with run-down housing projects that bring to mind every mafia story you have ever heard. It can be unnerving.
First impressions stay with you forever, so make your first view of Naples be the staggeringly beautiful view from the bay as your boat arrives. You will see the city, the mountains, and Vesuvius lazing menacingly to the side. 

watching the sun set over Naples from the deck of our boat

Leave your jewels behind, or if you have to bring them with you, don't wear them in Naples. Naples is known for having wily pickpockets and con artists who excel at separating tourists from their diamond rings and Rolex.
The police have cleaned things up massively, so crime is down, but don't tempt fate.
I was always told to wear a cross-body bag in Naples so that boys racing past on scooters couldn't grab it and be in the wind.
I haven't had any problems there, and haven't seen anything going on, but may err on the side of caution.

I met the most fantastic people in Naples. Loud, gregarious, warm, fun and friendly - I can't wait to go back.

Discover Caserta

View of the palace from halfway up the gardens

Did you know that the largest royal palace in the world sits just 37 kilometers outside Naples? 

On the morning of January 20th 1752 the first stone of Caserta Palace was laid for Charles VII of Bourbon, King of Naples and Sicily. 
The Bourbon King had decided to build the largest palace in all of Europe, a palace to rival the beauty of Paris' magnificent Versailles, and the Schonbrun palace in Vienna. 
In an odd twist of fate Charles VII never lived in Caserta, instead abdicating the throne in 1759 to become the king of Spain. His third born son, Ferdinand IV became king of Naples and Sicily, lived in Caserta, and in 1768 married Maria Carolina of Austria, who grew up in the Schonbrun Palace, and who's sister Marie Antoinette would marry Louis XVI of France two years later and move to Versailles, the very palace that Caserta was designed to beat.
Makes your head spin, non?

Aerial view of Caserta Palace (image via google)

The Palace of Caserta is massive. It has more than 1200 rooms, stands 42 meters (45 yards) high and 250 meters (273 yards) long, taking up 44,000 square meters.

the uppermost end of the gardens

The fountain of Diana and Actaeon

The gardens are 3.5 kilometers long, with a central waterway and 6 fountains, surrounded by a tree filled park. 

Statues enjoy a break from the sun, tucked away in the shade of the trees. 

They also line the walkways.

And adorn the bridges. The statues are a celebration of the arts.

You can take a horse and carriage ride through the grounds, rent a bike, or just stroll.

The park was nearly empty on this Monday afternoon in December

pathways in the palace gardens, Caserta

In 1997 Caserta became a UNESCO World heritage site.

For years and years I had wanted to go to Caserta but it never fit in with the trips I was on, whether I was private tour guiding or traveling with friends. 



This past December I was lucky enough to be able to sneak off to Italy for a week, during which I was able to finally go visit the spectacular Palace of Caserta.

See inside the royal apartments at Caserta Palace here

The palace and the grounds are nothing short of spectacular.
No matter how prepared you think you are, once you walk onto the palace grounds the sheer size of Caserta is staggering.  
In it's day it must have been magnificent.

But basically no one bothers to go see it. You would think the largest royal palace in all of Europe would get great tourist traffic, but Caserta gets around 500, 000 visitors per year compared to Versailles 5 million.

Unfortunately Caserta is sorely lacking in funds and as such is a little run down. The palace has been used as a training facility for the Italian Air Force, which along with the Carabinieri still has offices there. Movies including Star Wars, Mission Impossible and Angels and Demons have shot there. Palace security is apparently lacking, and despite the Air Force and the Carabinieri both being in residence there have been problems with theft, most notably recently $100, 000 worth of copper being stolen from a lightening conductor on the roof.

There is something incredibly sad about this once majestic palace and it's enormous gardens. Just the thought of Hollywood descending on it and stomping around disrespectfully all over the grounds and the rooms while they make their movies makes it feel desecrated.
And yet because hardly anyone bothers to go visit Caserta it also feels like your best kept secret. 
Other than my friends who live in the area I don't even know one person who has been there before.

If you are in the Amalfi Coast/Naples area Caserta is well worth a visit. The train station is right outside the palace, so you don't need to rent a car.

Destination Wedding, Amalfi Coast

Have you ever thought about having a destination wedding on the Amalfi Coast?

I was on the Amalfi Coast for a few days in December, working on new details for my upcoming Glam Italia Tours. 
My friend Adriano de Falco is a tour guide for the Amalfi Coast and Cilento. 

walking along the path to Arechi Castle

While we were scouting excursions for my upcoming Glam Italia tours, Adriano took me up to the incredible Castello di Arechi, or Arechi Castle, an 8th century castle that sits up on the hill, keeping watch over the beautiful coastal town of Salerno.

8th Century Arechi castle

While he was showing me around this amazing old castle, Adriano was telling me fascinating stories about it's history, what happened there 1400 years ago and why it was built. 

inside the castle walls

Arechi castle

At one point we walked out onto a terrace with staggeringly beautiful views of the bay that stretched all the way to Cilento, and that also looked out over the hills and the trees. 

a couple of seconds of cloud cover

A cloud passed over the early morning December sun for just a moment, then everything exploded back into color again.

Adriano pointing out something in Cilento from the terrace of Arechi Castle

While he was telling me about places we could take my travelers in Cilento, Adriano casually mentioned that this was the terrace that they used for weddings.

Wait - what???

Adriano knows me as a travel writer and private tour guide, so he didn't know about the makeup artist side of my life, let alone the makeup artist who does weddings!

I asked Adriano to send me photos from a wedding held here

wedding receptio at Arechi Castle

Vivimi senza paura....

the view from a wedding reception at Arechi Castle

wedding reception at Arechi Castle in Salerno

Now back to my photos...

I can't even tell you how many brides over the years have told me that they would love a European destination wedding or a wedding in a castle, or a wedding on the Amalfi Coast, but the cost was too prohibitive.

I guess you just have to know where to look!
If you check the price sheet for so much as a cup of coffee for a wedding at the other end of the Amalfi Coast in Positano, you will probably fall over. But at the southern end of the coast in Salerno, its a whole different world. 

Amalfi Coast Road view from the castle

Salerno is totally affordable. And its beautiful, and there is an 8th century castle on the hill with views to die for and gorgeous terraces to have your wedding or wedding reception on.

view of Salerno stretching all the way to Cilento from Arechi Castle

look to the right and all you see are mountains

inside the castle grounds

My wedding photographer friends would just love to shoot a wedding at Arechi Castle! There are so many fantastic spots to photograph.
There are also tons of places to hide out when you need a break from the action.

a hidden corner inside the castle grounds where you can sneak off and take a break

And if you're not getting married wouldn't it be a blast to have your birthday party or some other event here???

view of the coastline from Salerno to Cilento, from the Arechi Castle walls

walking back to the parking lot

Find out more about Salerno here in a post I wrote about the Glam Italia 2 Tour

If you are planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast, or will be in Italy and want to pop down there for a couple of days, contact Adriano for apartment rentals and bed and breakfasts. Adriano runs the Bed and Breakfast Association in Salerno, so if his apartments are full he has incredible contacts for all the others, plus he can advise you on which parts of town to stay in.

His other business is running daily excursions throughout the Amalfi Coast and Cilento. He will be taking the travelers on my next Amalfi Coast Glam Tour on all kinds of fantastic day trips, as well as taking us all on the incredible Pathway Of The Gods walking trail. (Read about it here: 10 Things To Do On The Amalfi Coast)

For information on the Arechi Castle, booking events at Arechi Castle, day trips on the Amalfi Coast and Vacation Rentals/Bed and Breakfasts in Salerno contact Adriano di Falco here: Casa Vacanze Il Duomo Apartments and Excursions

Arechi Castle is in Salerno, at the south end of the Amalfi Coast. You can fly into any major Italian airport and get a fast train directly to Salerno.
Salerno is 40 minutes from Naples by train.
Find flights to Italy here: