10 Best Things to Do in Naples, Italy

Forty metres below the city's chaotic streets, Napoli Sotterranea reveals 2,500 years of layered Naples - Greek tufa quarries from the 4th century BC, a Roman aqueduct that supplied water until the 1800s cholera epidemic, and World War II bomb shelters where 4,000 Neapolitans slept during the Allied bombings of 1942-43. The 90-minute guided tour winds through narrow passages, candle-lit chambers, and a small Roman theatre where Emperor Nero performed.

Entry is from Piazza San Gaetano in the heart of the historic centre. Tours run hourly in English between 10am and 6pm (EUR 12). Bring a light jacket - the underground stays at a constant 15 C. Claustrophobics should know that one section requires sideways shuffling through a 60-cm passage; an alternative route skips it.

The Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli holds the finest collection of Roman art on Earth - all of it excavated from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the surrounding Vesuvian cities. The Farnese Hercules, the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun, the Secret Cabinet of erotic Roman art, and the coloured frescoes from Villa of the Mysteries are housed in a converted 1750s Bourbon palace.

Allocate three hours minimum. The Alexander Mosaic was lifted whole from Pompeii and is the largest surviving from antiquity. The Secret Cabinet (Gabinetto Segreto) - originally locked away by 19th-century Bourbon kings - holds the explicit erotic art that Pompeian houses displayed openly. Entry is EUR 22, included on the Campania ArteCard.

Spaccanapoli is the dead-straight Greek-Roman decumanus inferior that slices through the centro storico in an arrow-line you can see from Castel Sant'Elmo above. The street officially runs as Via Benedetto Croce, then Via San Biagio dei Librai, packed with churches (Santa Chiara, Gesu Nuovo), nativity-figure workshops on Via San Gregorio Armeno, and family-run cafes where espresso costs EUR 1.

Walk the full 1.5 km from Piazza del Gesu Nuovo to Forcella. Stop at Santa Chiara's majolica-tiled cloister, peek into Cappella Sansevero, queue for sfogliatella at Pintauro, and weave through Via San Gregorio Armeno even outside Christmas - the workshops here have made Neapolitan presepi for 600 years.

Naples's oldest castle sits on the tiny Megaride Island, joined to the seafront by a short causeway. Norman king Roger II started construction in 1140 on the foundation of a Roman villa that belonged to Lucullus. The name (Egg Castle) comes from a legend that Virgil hid a magic egg in the foundations - if it breaks, Naples will fall.

Entry to Castel dell'Ovo, the parapets, and the panoramic terrace is free, daily 9am to 7.30pm (4pm Sunday). The view spans the entire Bay of Naples from Vesuvius to Capri and is the city's best photo spot at sunset. The Borgo Marinari at the base - a tiny harbour of fishermen's houses turned into seafood restaurants - is pleasant for an aperitivo.

The volcano that destroyed Pompeii is still active, classified as one of the most dangerous in the world due to the 3 million people in the metro area. The summit crater (1,281 m) can be reached on foot from the Quota 1000 car park - a 30-minute switchback hike that ends with sulphur fumes drifting from the crater rim and a 1,000-metre-deep cone open below.

Vesuvius National Park requires advance timed tickets (EUR 10 plus EUR 2 reservation fee). EAV buses run from Pompei Scavi or Ercolano stations on the Circumvesuviana. The hike is steep but doable in trainers - no equipment needed. Pair Mount Vesuvius with Pompeii or Herculaneum for a long but logical day.

The Cappella Sansevero is a private noble chapel that holds Giuseppe Sanmartino's 1753 Cristo Velato - a single block of marble carved into a Christ figure draped in a translucent shroud so thin you can trace the wounds beneath. Tourists routinely return three or four times to look at it; the marble veil is impossible to believe at first sight.

The chapel was commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro, an 18th-century alchemist whose other commissions include the unsettling Anatomical Machines in the basement - two preserved human skeletons with their entire circulatory systems intact. Entry is EUR 10 with a timed slot. The chapel is small (one room) and gets crowded - book online at least three days ahead.

The Duomo di San Gennaro houses two glass ampoules of dried blood from San Gennaro, the city's patron saint, beheaded in AD 305. Three times a year - the first Saturday of May, 19 September, and 16 December - the blood is processed before crowds and, if it liquefies, signals a good year for Naples. The 14th-century Gothic cathedral also incorporates two earlier basilicas (Santa Restituta and the 4th-century Baptistry of San Giovanni in Fonte, the oldest in the Western world).

Free entry to the main cathedral; EUR 6 to access the Baptistry, archaeological excavations beneath, and the Royal Chapel of San Gennaro with its Caravaggio. Mass is held daily; tourist visits should avoid 11am-noon Sundays.

Piazza del Plebiscito is the largest square in Naples and the city's grandest civic space - a 25,000 sq m semicircle anchored by the neoclassical Basilica of San Francesco di Paola (modelled on the Pantheon) and the 17th-century Royal Palace of Naples opposite. The Royal Palace facade carries eight giant marble statues of Naples's rulers, from Roger the Norman to Vittorio Emanuele II.

The Royal Apartments run for 30 rooms of Bourbon-era frescoes, gilded thrones, and the Teatro di Corte private theatre (EUR 10). The piazza itself is free and used for concerts, fashion shoots, and a tradition where Neapolitans walk blindfolded between the two equestrian statues - locals say almost no one walks straight.

Pizza Margherita was invented in Naples in 1889 by Raffaele Esposito for Queen Margherita of Savoy, who wanted a patriotic pizza in the colours of the Italian flag (red tomato, white mozzarella, green basil). UNESCO inscribed Neapolitan pizzaiolo as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017. The classic version uses San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, and olive oil, baked at 480 C in a wood-fired oven for 90 seconds.

Three historic pizzerias in the centro storico are mandatory: L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele (the original Margherita and Marinara, immortalised in Eat Pray Love), Sorbillo (more modern, Gino Sorbillo runs three branches in Via dei Tribunali), and Di Matteo (a favourite of Bill Clinton in 1994).