DK Travel : Naples & the Amalfi Coast

From one perspective, this area is an anomaly, at once one of the earth’s most beautiful and yet most accursed places. It has been the choice of the great and wealthy as their playground, while also being the scene of some of the greatest natural disasters and the grittiest human misery. Perhaps these irreconcilable twists of fate are at the root of the Neapolitans’ famously optimistic cynicism. The city of Naples itself is a vibrant urban setting, almost non-European in its intensity, while the beauty of the surrounding coast has been known to make grown men weep.

Castello Aragonese, Ischia

In the 16th century poetess Vittoria Colonna held court here, making Ischia the cultural centre of the Mediterranean. Part of the ruin is now a hotel.
Castrati

An 18th-century Neapolitan speciality, renowned castrati who sang at the San Carlo included Caffarelli (Gaetano Majorano), Farinelli (Carlo Broschi) and Gian Battista Velluti.
Cava de’ Tirreni

The main monument here is the 11th-century Badia della Santissima Trinità (Abbey of the Holy Trinity), housing paintings by De Matteis.
Ceramiche d’Arte, Ravello

This workshop is the place to come for gorgeous ceramics decorated with traditional designs.
Ceramiche Solimene, Vietri sul Mare

Home to the world-famous Vietri dinnerware, where the bird design is used on plates, pitchers, sugar bowls – you name it.
Ceramics

Ceramics – both copies of traditional designs and original creations – are notable in Capri, Ravello and Vietri.
Certosa de San Giacomo, Capri

This 14th-century monastery features North African-style vaults forming a series of little domes. It now houses the town’s library.
Certosa di San Martino

If there is one museum that manages to capture the true Naples, this is it. Come for the unparalleled views from the gardens, for the masterpieces of the Neapolitan Baroque and the world’s finest collection of nativity figures.
Certosa di San Martino

This sparkling white monastery complex commands the most perfect location in the entire city, attesting to the wealth and power the monks once enjoyed. In the 17th and 18th centuries they commissioned the greatest artists of the day to embellish their church and chambers in Baroque style – the church, in particular, is a flamboyant catalogue of colour and pattern, sporting at least one work by each and every famous hand of the age.
Certosa di San Martino

If there is one place that could be called the true museum of Naples, this is it. So varied are the collections and the architecture that all aspects of the city’s history and cultural output seem to be represented here. These include a large collection of Nativity scenes and figures, some of Naples’ most significant paintings and sculptures, views of the city painted in different eras, a decorative arts collection, and the exuberantly Baroque church, decorated by the best Neapolitan artists of the 17th and 18th centuries.