A star-shaped fortress and a baroque monastery on the hill above the city. From the ramparts, the whole bay lies at your feet, from Vesuvius to Capri.
The Vomero was farmland and villas until the 1900s; now it is a calm residential district reached by three funiculars from the streets below.
Castel Sant'Elmo, rebuilt by the Spanish in the 1530s as a six-pointed star, watched over the city. Its ramparts, €5, give the most complete panorama of Naples: Spaccanapoli cutting through the old city, the port, Vesuvius and the islands.
Just below, the Certosa di San Martino was a Carthusian monastery, finished in Cosimo Fanzago's baroque. It has marble cloisters, a gilded church and terraced gardens.
Its museum holds one of the great collections of Neapolitan presepi, the nativity scenes, including the vast Cuciniello crib. Come late in the afternoon, then ride the funicular down to Via Toledo for dinner.
An afternoon of about three hours.
Ride up through the hill to Piazza Fuga on the Vomero.
Walk the star-shaped ramparts for the panorama of the bay.
The great cloister with its marble skulls and balustrade, then the gilded church.
Hundreds of figures of shepherds, angels, markets and taverns.
Watch the light go from the terrace, then take the funicular back to Via Toledo.
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Funicolare Centrale from Via Toledo, Chiaia from Parco Margherita, or Montesanto; all take a standard transit ticket.
Pay at each entrance; Sant'Elmo and San Martino are ticketed separately.
San Martino closes on Wednesday; check Sant'Elmo's hours, which change with the season.
Naples practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
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