Antichi Arsenali di Amalfi
Amalfi
Hidden gemHistory & archaeology
The story
Stone vaults opening onto the water, where the Republic built its galleys: the only medieval arsenal left on the coast, memory of Amalfi's sea power.
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More gems in Amalfi
Sacred artDuomo di Amalfi
Amalfi
At the top of a steep stairway, the striped Arab-Norman façade; beneath the altar rest the relics of Saint Andrew, brought here from Constantinople.
Sacred artChiostro del Paradiso
Amalfi
Interlaced Moorish arches and palms that filter the light: a thirteenth-century cemetery made for the nobles of Amalfi, as silent as a garden of the East.
- Free beaches
Spiagge del Duoglio
Amalfi
Four hundred steps drop from the main road to a beach of pebbles and clear water, the hard-won prize for anyone wanting away from the crowds of Amalfi.
- Free beaches
Santa Croce
Amalfi
Reachable by sea or down a long stairway, a cove beside a rock arch the sea has hollowed out; the water here is the green of glass.
HikingValle delle Ferriere
Amalfi (SA)
Above Amalfi the trail climbs a damp valley of waterfalls and prehistoric ferns, among the ruins of the old ironworks swallowed by the vegetation.
History & archaeologyMuseo della Carta
Amalfi (SA)
In an ancient thirteenth-century paper mill, in the Valle dei Mulini, hammers driven by the water of the Canneto still bring Amalfi's handmade paper to life, sheet after sheet.
More gems: History & archaeology
History & archaeologyStatua del Nilo ("Corpo di Napoli")
Largo Corpo di Napoli
A river god reclining for centuries in a quiet square, whom Neapolitans call the Corpo di Napoli: he leans his bearded head among putti and a sphinx.
History & archaeologyCappella Pontano
Decumani
A small Renaissance temple on the decumanus, which the humanist Pontano had raised for his lost wife, still lined inside with Latin inscriptions dictated by his grief.
- History & archaeology
Sedile di Nilo
Decumani
On the corner of a small Spaccanapoli square survives the seat of the old Nilo quarter, where the nobles once gathered before the sedili of Naples vanished.
History & archaeologyPort'Alba
Napoli
A seventeenth-century arch cut into the walls leads to the booksellers' street, where stalls of second-hand volumes pile up among yellowed pages and the shade of the old city.
History & archaeologyPorta Capuana
zona Garibaldi
Between two cylindrical towers an arch of white marble opens like a Renaissance triumph, the old city gate facing the road to Capua.
- History & archaeology
MANN — Museo Archeologico Nazionale
P.za Museo
One of the world's great archaeological museums: here the Toro Farnese, the mosaics of Pompeii and the Gabinetto Segreto tell the whole ancient Mediterranean in a single visit.