Portalba and Piazza Dante
Piazza Dante: Known originally as Largo del Mercatello because a market was held here, was laid out in 1757 by Luigi Vanvitelli on the wishes of Charles the Bourbon, in whose honour was called "Foro Carolino". After the unification of Italy it was called after the poet Dante Alighieri, whose monument by Tito Angelini in the centre of the piazza is on a pedestal by Gherardo Rega.
Portalba was originally called Porta Sciuscella after a carob tree which used to stand in the nearby convent of S. Sebastiano. It was opened in 1624 with the transformation of an old Angevin tower. The streets around Portalba retain their medieval specialisation of musical instruments, books and antiques, and are a pleasant place to stroll. It remains a lively area until late into the night.
Piazza Bellini: One of the most fashionable piazza in Naples, always thronged with people and surrounded by excellent cafés and restaurants as well as unusual and historic buildings. This is a lively piazza any time, with students milling about, intellectuals arguing in the cafés, and families walking up and down. It used to lie just outside the old city walls until the 16th century, and excavations have revealed evidence of the old walls of the original Greek city of Neapolis (a new city south of Partenope). These walls are of regular shapes of tufa stone and can be seen in the middle of the piazza, under the gaze of the statue of the composer Vincenzo Bellini.
Via San Sebastiano: This street close to the famous San Pietro a Maiella Conservatoire is a favourite with musicians. The shops here sell specialised books, rare musical scores and musical bibliographies, as well as musical instruments. If you're in the area, drop into the conservatoire to admire its very attractive courtyard (via S. Pietro a Maiella, 4)
Museo Archeologico Nazionale: Simply, one of the most important museums in the world, where classical antiquity offers a fairly complete picture of the splendour that was achieved in sculpture, painting and the minor arts. The construction of the building goes back to 1585, and in 1738, by express desire of Charles of Bourbon, work was begun on adapting the building as a museum: this went on till 1818 with a series of restoration and modification works under the direction of Ferdinando Fuga and his pupil Pompeo Schiattarelli. The collection which Charles had inherited from his mother Elisabetta Farnese di Parma included a series of sculptures found in ancient Rome, and the collection of jewels. To these important finds were added treasures from the excavations at Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabia and all the Vesuvian towns; those of Magna Graecia, Cumae, Pozzuoli, Paestum, ancient Capua and various localities in the area known as the Sannio; finds from various necropoles, legacies from the Borgia Collection and important Egyptian items. Also kept here are finds from the primitive Southern Italian civilisations. Among the various reliefs, panels, torsoes, busts, hermae and other statues, it is worth mentioning the group of the Toro Farnese, the largest scupltural group from ancient art.
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