Mysterious Naples, between art and faith

Day 1 – Arrival in Naples

Arrival by own means. Accomodation at a 3*/4* or 5* hotel in Naples. Rooms available in the afternoon.

Free dinner.

Overnight.

Day 2 – to choose between:

1) Napoli – San Gennaro

Morning: Breakfast at the hotel.
This itinerary will take us through some of the most important cults of Neapolitanness: the cult of the dead and the Saint of the People, SAN GENNARO.

Transfer by coach. Our journey will start from one of the gates of the ancient city: Porta San Gennaro. We will visit the Cathedral with the chapel dedicated to the Saint and the treasure museum. The Treasure of San Gennaro is composed of extraordinary masterpieces collected in seven centuries of donations from popes, kings, emperors, rulers, illustrious men, common people and part of unique and intact collections thanks to the Deputation of the Chapel of San Gennaro, an ancient secular institution still existing born in 1527 by a vow of the city of Naples. Today the treasure is exhibited in the Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro.

We continue on foot to another of the key places of our visit. Caravaggio, who was welcomed in Naples with all the honors, was in particular hosted by the charitable association of Pio Monte della Misericordia, in whose church he painted an absolutely masterful work: The Seven Works of Mercy, a true manifesto of 17th century Neapolitan art, whose influence was fundamental for the painting of southern Italy and for Italian painting in general. The Pio Monte della Misericordia also preserves the original contract that Caravaggio stipulated with the institute. The same contract bears the painter's signature and his fee for the work carried out: 470 ducats.

Free lunch.

Afternoon: We will visit the Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore, (open every day from 9:30 to 17:30) perhaps the first Neapolitan Gothic church built on the perimeter of an early Christian basilica and from the cloister we will descend into the belly of the city to trace its origins through the remains of the ancient Roman forum and its lively market. We will also walk along the lively Via San Gregorio Armeno where Neapolitan artisans bring to life with typical terracotta figurines the magic of the nativity through images of plebeian everyday life.

Return by coach.

2) Pompeii’s Wonder

Morning: Breakfast at the hotel. Meeting with the guide and departure by coach towards Pompeii.

The city buried by the disastrous eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD is today one of the most visited archaeological areas in the world.

Visiting Pompeii is like traveling into the past; entering the houses, public buildings, walking on the Roman streets is a bit like listening to the voices of the inhabitants of Pompeii, smelling the penetrating odor of "garum", the ancient fish sauce. The excavations, which began in 1748, have given us a collection of art and everyday objects of inestimable value and the precise and truthful image of a Roman city from 2000 years ago. The eruption of '79 had created a bank of compact tuff that preserved the city, returning the life of the ancients to the present.

We will enter the excavations from the amphitheater side and walk along via Abbondanza, visiting shops, domus, spas, lupanare, in short we will walk in antiquity. We will then reach the forum, the main square and we will see the casts of the victims, dramatically crystallized during the eruption.

For a “slower” visit we suggest a lunch box to consume on site and then continue the visit. After the visit return to Naples by coach.

Day 3 – Naples

No city in the world has such a variety of aspects and such a wealth of history and art concentrated in a relatively small and limited place. This route that we propose will prove it to you!

Morning: Breakfast at the hotel.

The starting point of this itinerary is the Certosa di San Martino. Splendidly nestled on the Vomero hill, a precious museum reality, it constitutes one of the most beautiful points of view of the city and its gulf. The Certosa di San Martino, founded by the Angevins, has a unique collection of Neapolitan nativity scenes and its church is a wonderful example of Neapolitan Baroque.

With the funicular you reach the largest historical center in Europe, a World Heritage Site, it is a neighborhood with a thousand faces, where the Greco-Roman urban planning is still legible in the regular grid of the streets. You will continue on foot along the famous "Spaccanapoli", the ancient lower decumanus of the Greco-Roman city that seems to divide, "split", the city into two parts.

We will visit: the Cloister and the Church of Santa Chiara, commissioned by Roberto D’Angiò as a burial place for himself and his descendants and the splendid majolica cloister, a place of prayer but also of “escape” for the Poor Clares and above all the protagonist of a famous Neapolitan song; the Chapel of the Princes of Sangro of Sansevero, a temple of Freemasonry and esotericism, where we will admire the Veiled Christ.

But we promised you “Naples from top to bottom” and to keep our proposal we will go down to a cemetery area, under the Church of the Souls of Purgatory, from the seventeenth century, visible and where the cult of the dead is very strong also in the iconographic intent. The brotherhood was born in a time and in an area where the sense of death is constantly present, very strong and deeply felt especially due to the conditions of poverty and degradation in which the population lived at that time. In short, a true journey through the lights and shadows of the city.

Day 4 – Departure

Breakfast at the hotel.                                 

Check-out and transfer by own means to the airport.

End of services.

 The visits order may change for operational needs without changing the content of the programme.

INCLUDED IN THE OFFER: 

• 3 nights with breakfast in a 3*/4* or 5* hotel
• Authorized guide in the language chosen for
  the guided tours
• Entrance ticket to the Treasure of San
  Gennaro, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Scavi
  di San Lorenzo
• Radio guides for 2 days

NOT INCLUDED IN THE OFFER:

• tourist tax per person/night to be paid on site
• Tips
• Travel to/from Naples
• Bus transfers
• Anything not mentioned in the “included in
  the offer” section

OPTIONAL:

• Tour leader
• Bus-Transfers
• Eventual extra meals
• Eventual extra entrances/ visits