Attractions

Naples:

Galleria Principe di Napoli: This ornate shopping gallery filled with stylish boutiques was built between 1876 and 1883 as part of the planned improvements to Via Fosse del Grano. The cast-iron and glass roof and solid masonry of the walls graced with splendid stucco decorations are a masterful combination of modern and traditional construction techniques. The gallery opens out onto Via Pessina, Via Broggia and the square in front of the National Museum.

Castel dell’Ovo: (Open hours are 9am – 5pm Mon – Sat, 9am – 1pm Sun.) Many believe the name Castel dell’Ovo is due to its unusual shape (“ovo” meaning “egg”); however, others maintain that the name is linked to medieval legend. Apparently, the poet Virgil hid an egg in an iron cage and left it to hang from a rafter in a secret place within the castle; if the egg was broken, both the castle and the city were doomed for destruction.

The Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte: This museum contains art collections including works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli and Caravaggio.

Teatro di San Carlo: This theatre, the oldest active opera house in Europe, opened its doors on November 4, 1737.

Sorrento:

Museo Correale di Terranova: Sorrento has been a resort town for over two thousand years. Sorrento’s excellent museums include the Museo Correale di Terranova and the Inlaid Woodwork Museum. The relatively new Mineralogical Museum boasts a dinosaur collection containing baby dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs, and Permian reptiles that predate the dinosaurs by millions of years. Before you leave Sorrento, visit its historic city center, which includes some protective walls from the Middle Ages, the 14th century Saint Francis Cloister and a much older neighboring monastery.

Caserta/Palace of Caserta (The palace is listed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site): Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range. The city is best known for the Palace of Caserta. It is one of the most visited monuments in the country. In it you can find more than 1,200 rooms, decorated in various styles. It has been the set for famous movies, such as the first three episodes of Star Wars and St. Peter’s Cathedral in Mission Impossible III. The park is two miles long and contains many falls, lakes and gardens, including the very famous English gardens.

Palazzo Vecchio: The “Old Palace” is a construction of the 14th century renovated by Luigi Vanvitelli as provisional residence for the royal court.

Rome:

Colosseum: The Roman Colosseum is a tremendous amphitheater, the embodiment of both the grandeur and cruelty of the great Roman Empire. Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum hosted spectacular games that included gladiator exhibitions, fights between animals, prisoner executions and—strangely enough—naval battles.

Roman Forum: Towering Ionic columns stretch proud and fragmented into the Italian sky and ancient porticoes stand guard over the empty shells of buildings that were once the centers of commerce, justice and worship for the city.

Pantheon: Of all the great buildings constructed during the crest of the Roman Empire, only this one still stands. Pantheon history states that the interior of the roof is intended to symbolize the heavens, and the giant hole above is supposedly the eyes of the gods.

Trevi Fountain: The Trevi Fountain dominates a small square in the heart of the city near the Spanish Steps. The fountain entered pop culture thanks to the nighttime bathing scene in the film La Dolce Vita by Fellini, or for many Americans, the popular 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain. This huge Baroque fountain, inspired by sea mythology, took 30 years to build.

The Sistine Chapel: The pièce de résistance of the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel is the culmination of Michelangelo’s finest work. Frescoes detailing the life and times of both Jesus and Moses line the walls beneath the benevolent portraits of former popes.

The Vatican Museums: Deep in the holy center of Vatican City, the Vatican Museums house an enormous collection of art collected through centuries of history, from Egyptian pieces to Etruscan ruins to Renaissance paintings and, of course, the legendary Sistine Chapel. Of all the museums, not just in Italy but the world over, these are not to be missed.