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This impressive royal palace is home to important works by some of the greatest masters of all time, including Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, Mantegna, Bellini, Fra’ Bartolomeo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt and Dürer, as well as by every great painter working in Naples during the 17th and 18th centuries, including Caravaggio and Ribera.

Although its position in the present-day street-plan seems to be an afterthought and the perfunctory Neo-Gothic façade is less than inspiring, inside Naples’ cathedral is a fascinating cornucopia of history, art and local culture. There are ancient remains of the Greek and Roman cities to explore, including some beautiful paleo-Christian mosaics in the baptistry, and splendid art abounds in the main church and its chapels, including the huge work dedicated to the city’s patron saint, Gennaro (Januarius).

One of the world’s most important museums of ancient art houses some of the most famous statues from the Greco-Roman past, such as the Callipygean Venus that set standards of physical beauty that have endured through the ages. Other monumental marble works include the Farnese Hercules, but the collections also feature bronzes, mosaics, frescoes, carved semiprecious stone, glassware, Greek vases, Egyptian artifacts, and much more (see Museo Archeologico Nazionale).

This 14th-century church has no façade of its own but is reached by a double staircase through a courtyard to the left of the Chapel of Santa Monica. Inside are a circular chapel with 15th-century frescoes and basreliefs by Spanish masters Bartolomé Ordoñez and Diego de Siloe.

Few spaces are decorated with such unity as this family chapel. The credit goes to its designer, the eccentric 18th-century prince Raimondo di Sangro. Full of allegorical symbolism, the statuary are among Naples’ most famous, particularly the “veiled” figures of Christ and Modesty.

The façade of this structure, rebuilt after World War II, is like a huge cliff of buff-coloured tufa, relieved only by its portico and giant rose window. Only the base of its 14th-century bell-tower is original. Inside the decor has been returned to its Gothic origins, since all the Baroque embellishment was destroyed in wartime bombings. The tomb of Robert of Anjou is the largest funerary monument of medieval Italy, and behind this is the delightful tiled cloister.

The original church on this site is believed to have been built in the 5th century over a Roman temple to Mercury. It was rebuilt in the 17th century, with decoration added over the next 100 years. As such it provides a complete treasury of 17th- and 18th-century art, not just by Neapolitan artists but by some the greatest masters of the day. Most famous is the fresco cycle by Lanfranco, with a marvellous trompe-l’oeil architectural setting by Codazzi. Other highlights are the altar designed by Borromini and paintings by Giordano in the transept.