Naples - Day 1

Four friends and I got to Naples at around 10:30, and made our way to our hostel, "Giovanni's House".  Giovanni was the most helpful person possible, and gave us a map of the immediate area.  He then pointed out important landmarks, and then drew a line outlining the best way to tackle all of these in one day.  From 12:00 to 6:00, that's exactly what we did.

We started with the Cattedrale di San Gennaro, the most important cathedral in the city of Naples otherwise known as Il Duomo.  This cathedral has been standing for over 700 years, and was impressive to say the least.

Il Duomo

The Apse

Next was the Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, where you see a large church with a smaller one nearby.  The one pictured at left with the statue in front is San Domenico for which the square is named, and one we did not enter.  The second was called the Cappella Sansevero, which we actually did go into.  Unfortunately I could not take pictures, but that was because the sculpture inside was clearly worth photographing.  It's called Cristo Velato by Giuseppe Sanmartino, and it shows Jesus beneath the Shroud of Turin with his crown of thorns and presumably the spikes that nailed him to the cross.

Photo compliments of Wikipedia

After that we went to the Piazza Gesu Nuovo, which had another two churches.  The first was Santa Chiara, which was so heavily grafitied that it fit in with the rest of the city.

The second was the one for which the square is named, Gesu Nuovo.  It was first a palace and then used by alternatively Jesuits and Franciscans, is quite literally the ugliest church I have ever seen.  It has diamond projections coming off the front and looks like the bottom of a shoe.  After that we continued south along the shoreline.

Castel Nuovo, an art museum castle amid the city center

Galleria Umberto Facade

Galleria Umberto Interior

We found in our travels the San Carlo Theater, the oldest opera house in use.  Before we got a guided tour of the theater, we stopped to get food at the Galleria Umberto, which is a shopping center with a vaulted glass ceiling.  The  Royal Palace nearby is connected to the opera house and the king's balcony so that the king of Naples needed not stand in line with the common folk to get in.

Frescoed Ceiling of San Marco Theater

Six rows of boxes that line the horseshoe-shaped opera house

King's Box

View of the stage from the King's Box

Panorama of the Theater

After the tour we walked further south to the Piazza Plebiscito.  Apparently someone had the idea to take an enlarged Pantheon and mix it with a shrunken St. Peter's Square and called it San Francesco di Paola Church.

Not even Augustus Caesar can escape the graffiti

Mount Vesuvius

Sleep-deprived me next to Vesuvius