Naples - Vomero Travel Guides | Naples | Sub Regions | Naples - Vomero

On the hill directly behind the city centre is Vomero, a newer area of town, with decent shops and a good park in Villa Floridiana. Its main attractions are older, however: the Castel Sant’Elmo and the monastery of the Certosa di San Martino, with its excellent museum, overlook the city from a spectacular position. Just to the south of the shopping area, the Villa Floridiana is a shady park and home to the Museo Nazionale della Ceramica Duca di Martina. It’s slightly cooler than in the city up here, and isn’t a bad place for a picnic, though manic football games may disturb your peace a little.

Sights

Certosa di San Martino

largo San Martino 5, T/F 081-5781769. Tue-Sat 0830-7.30, Sun 0900-1930, closed Mon. €6. All of the city's funiculars go up to Vomero, but they tend to centre on piazza Vanvitelli. You can walk from any of them to the Certosa, or catch buses C31, C32 or V1 from piazza Vanvitelli. Bus C30 runs from piazza Garibaldi.

Recently restored, the Certosa di San Martino began life as a Carthusian monastery in the 14th century. It now contains (and is often referred to as) the excellent Museo di San Martino, and is one of Naples’ most satisfying sights. For the one ticket, you get some good paintings, an elegant cloister, an exhibition of presepi (nativity scenes), one of Naples’ most spectacular churches, extraordinary views, terraced gardens, entrance to the Castel Sant’Elmo next door and even a Cinderella-style carriage.

The church is decorated as richly as any other in the city, from the floor to the ceiling and including everything in between. Paintings by Ribera, Stanzione, Vaccaro and others adorn the main space. Equally impressive are the other rooms to the left and right (the entrances hidden behind the altar). The Sacrestia has amazing inlaid wood panels, and Flaminio Torelli’s Presentazione al Tempio in the Passetto tra Capitolo e Parlatorio is just one example of many more fine paintings. There are even signs to tell you what’s what.

The main cloister is reached through a long high corridor built by Fanzago. Most of the museum exhibits surround this space.

The Quarto del Priore contains Renaissance and pre-Renaissance works, including a beautiful marble statue of the Madonna con Bambino e San Giovannino by Bernini, and a painting of San Lorenzo by Caracciolo, clearly showing Giotto’s influence.

At the western end of this section you can wander down through the rather plain terraced gardens, with Naples spread out below. At the other end a balcony gives a good view of the rest of the city to Vesuvius.

Even more interesting is the section Immagini e Memorie della Città, in which paintings and maps of Naples at various stages through history are juxtaposed with views of the contemporary version out of the windows. The highlight here is probably the anonoymous Tavola Strozzi, considered a reliable depiction of the city in the 15th century because of the accurate representation of buildings that still stand today, including the Castel Nuovo, and the Certosa itself.

Castel Sant’Elmo

via Tito Angelini 22, T 081-5784030. 0900-1900, closed Mon. €1. A ticket to the Certosa also allows entry to the castle. See the Certosa (above) for details of how to get there.

Castel Sant’Elmo, despite its size and prominent position, visible from much of the city, suffers slightly in comparison with its neighbour. It has stood here, in some form or other since the 14th century, and in its current shape since the 16th century. Its only problem is that it’s hard to see much of it.

Under normal circumstances access is only to the roof (piazza d’Armi), and though the view is spectacular there’s not too much else to see. However, the first floor is often opened for exhibitions, allowing access to the interior of the restored castle.

As an alternative to public transport, the steps of Pedamentina a San Martino (which predate the funicular railways) wind down from the piazza outside the Castle and Certosa to corso V Emanuele. Cross this road and a couple more bends will take you to the western end of Spaccanapoli, and down into the Centro Storico. Recommended more on the way down than the way up.

Villa Floridiana

0830-1 hour before sunset.

One of Naples’ few true parks, the Villa Floridiana has trees, shady paths, no scooters, lovers, joggers, and even some grass. At the time of writing the lower part of the park was closed for restoration, which hopefully won’t take too long since this is where the best views down over Naples are from.

Museo Nazionale della Ceramica Duca di Martina

Villa Floridiana, T 081-5788418. Tue-Sun entrance only at 0930, 1100 and 1230. Closes at 1400. €2.50. Funicolare di Chiaia and Funicolare Centrale both terminate close to the entrance to the park: from either walk down via Cimarosa to reach the entrance. Head downhill and right through the park to find the museum.

The Duca di Martina National Ceramic Museum, in what was once a royal villa (given to his mistress and second wife the Duchess of Floridiana by King Ferdinando in 1815) in the Villa Floridiana, has some good pieces of oriental and Italian ceramics and could be an excellent museum but is currently held back by a strange opening policy (presumably due to lack of funding) which only allows the public in at three points during the day.

The basement holds the oriental collection, with good information in English as well as Italian and lots of priceless vases. Some of the plainer Edo vases in blue and white are especially beautiful.

The ground floor has a somewhat eclectic mix of glass, ivory, boxes and some very attractive 16th-century majolica pottery.

Upstairs is more recent (mainly 18th-century) porcelain including pieces from the royal dinner service, much of which may be overly ornate for some tastes.

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