The Cathedral of Naples, consecrated to “Our Lady of the Assumption”, was built by the Anjou in the XIII century, joining two early Christian churches: Saint Restituta of the IV century and Saint Stefania of the V century.

The Cathedral, strongly baroquezed, keeps some elements of the original gothic architecture and some precious funerary monuments of the XIII century in the side chapels.

Noteworthy is that of the Cardinal Minutolo, which houses interesting frescos of the 1300’s. A precious altar – piece, showing Our Lady of the Assumption, is kept near the main altar, a painting of Perugino, master of Raphael.

Nowadays the early Christian church of Saint Restituta is a large side chapel of the Cathedral, where the relics of the African martyr are kept. In the nave we can admire a fresco of Luca Giordano, a famous Neapolitan painter of the 1600’s and in the side chapels some Roman sarcophaguses reused in Middle –Ages. At the bottom of the Chapel the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte is located which is supposed to be one of the oldest in Italy. In its interior, thanks to a marble resent restoration, an ancient mosaic, which covers the vault, shows in all its splendour, some scenes taken from the Gospel and the images of the four Evangelists.

The archaeological area is located under the chapel of Saint Restituta and behind the Archbishop’s palace and consists of ruins dating from the Greek era (V – IV century B.C) to the early Middle – Ages. The ruins of an imposing building and some sections of a led – water pipe on the original pavement of the first Roman Imperial age are well kept. The Roman building were built above those of the Greeks, who originally built their buildings and paved their streets with large blocks of tufa, piled one on top of each other, without using mortar of any kind.

A road built by the Greeks, set under the Roman constructions, still shows the tracks of the chariot – wheels and also some mosaics of the late Imperial era can easily be seen.

Without a doubt the Cathedral of Naples is famous for the chapel of San Gennaro, patron Saint of the city. The chapel is elegant and bright and various works of art are kept inside, making it one of the highest expressions of the Baroque art and architecture of the 1600’s in Naples. Behind the main altar, the relics and two ampullas containing the Saint’s coagulated blood are locked in a safe and twice a year the blood should liquefy. This wonder remains a mystery up till now.