
I visited this WHS in November 2018. Although it is one of the biggest and mostly populated cities in Italy, it seems to attract much less people apart from the cruise liner passengers and most of them head straight to the Amalfi Coast or Pompeii and allow less (if any) time to this historic city.
It seems to have too much of a bad reputation when compared to other cities in Italy too. I'm not saying that it doesn't have its problems, but I did not encounter any extraordinary problems even though I went around with my camera at night, I drove in and out of the city and I parked my car both outdoors and indoors.
On the other hand, even though I found Naples interesting and pleasant, to me it lacked the general feel of an old city full of culture which several other inscribed Italian cities possess. I enjoyed the Piazza del Plebiscito and the Palazzo Reale, the Maschio Angioino (photo) and the Castel Dell'Ovo, the several churches, monuments, private stairways, and statues along the famous Spacca Napoli, Via San Gregorio Armeno with the various cribs and figurines, Piazza del Gesù Nuovo and Napoli Sotteranea.
The latter two were the highlights of my trip in Naples. Piazza del Gesù Nuovo seems to be the real heart of this WHS. The rustic ashlar diamond projections of the Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo reminded me of Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara which has a similar facade. Next to this church is the UNESCO WHS inscription plaque. Opposite the church is the tall spire of the Immaculate Virgin and the Basilica or Monastery of Santa Chiara. Most of the churches are free to visit but the Basilica of Santa Chiara has an entrance fee and limited opening hours to be able to visit the chiostro maiolicato or chiostro delle Clarisse but it's worth the effort.
Even though I enjoyed my visit to all of these sites, I found them to be quite distant from each other and with too much urban sprawl or ugly buildings in between to be able to appreciate a continuous cultural landscape like in other historic cities. Ironically, the best place to appreciate the historic city of Naples almost untouched is underground through one of the tours organised by Napoli Sotteranea (https://www.napolisotterranea.org/) which reminded me of a similar experience in Valletta, Malta. There is nothing claustrophobic as there really is another city with endless galleries, an aqueduct and also a Greco-Roman theatre hidden underground beneath the city of Naples.
If you have extra time, do allow at least half a day for the National Archeological Museum and make sure not to skip any lunch or dinner as the food here is to die for (with the pizza inscribed as intangible world heritage and attempts to inscribe most foods and drinks of the region including the not so inspiring Naples coffee), even though you'll have to go on a diet afterwards! Still, it's worth it!
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