Vomero
This residential part of Naples, after the strong growth in the 50-60's, is now popular for its commanding views of the rest of Naples, and is a good place to go shopping.
Castel Sant'Elmo developed around the old fort of Belforte, built by the Normans around 1170. In 1329, Robert of Anjou instructed architects to build a Palatium-Castrum. It was rapidly rebuilt by Don Pedro de Toledo, on the orders of Charles V. The cyclopean walls were erected, the moat was dug, and the small hill of S. Martino was fortified. The corridors, rooms and stairways which run through its lenght are immense, as is the large open space at the top, at the centre of which we can find the small church of Sant'Elmo and the ancient buildings used as prisons, from where we can admire one of the most beautiful views of Naples and the Bay, of almost 360 degrees.
Certosa di S. Martino: The Monastery of S.Martino was founded in 1325 near the castle on the wishes of Charles of Anjou. It was modified towards the second part of the seventeenth century, as a result of the Counter-Reformation : Cosimo Fanzago was responsible for the addition of pilaster-strips on the columns and the small cemetery with a skull-studded balustrade which emphasises the "memento mori" so typical of the Counter-Reformation. In 1866 the occupants of the monastery were definitively driven out and the whole area, full of frescoes and works of art, became a museum, containing a numeber of extremely important sections. Among them:
- Neapolitan section, which includes important landscape and royal sites paintings, portraits of the Bourbons, documents, arms and souvenirs from the XIXth century
- Neapolitan cribs: a vast collection of Neapolitan cribs, full of shepherds, crib-scenes and complete cribs, an absolute must in the Christmas period.
The Pedamentina is a series of 414 steps leading down from the esplanade in front of the castle into the heart of Naples. Each successive bend in the path throws up new insights into the city - some as innocently intimate as a cat lazing in the sunshine or a forgotten building - and its bucolic atmosphere seems far removed from the frenzy of Naples.
Via Scarlatti: This pedestrian street is ideal for shopping. Lined with plane trees, it's an almost uninterrupted row of temptations, especially clothes. You'll also find department stores and the Scarlatti and Vanvitelli shopping arcades. The intersection with via Luca Giordano (another excellent shopping street) is a popular meeting-place for young Neapolitans.
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