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

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

The chapel of the Cardinal Minutolo is of great value and houses interesting frescos of the 1300. A precious alter-piece, showing Our Lady of Assumption, is kept near the main altar, a painting of Perugino, master of Rafael.

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 and in the side chapels some roman sarcophaguses reused in middle-ages.

A chance to visit the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte of the V century, set at the bottom of the chapel and considered to be the oldest in Italy. In there, tanks to an able restoration, we enjoy an ancient mosaic which decorates the vault, considered a masterpiece of early Christian art.

Without a doubt the Dome is famous for the chapel of San Gennaro (Januarus), patron saint of Naples. The chapel is elegant and bright and various works of art are kept inside, making it one of the highest expressions of baroque art and architecture of 1600 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.

After the visit of the Dome, we walk to the Tribunali street, which was the Decumanus Maximus, the main street of the greek-roman city of Naples, where the public buildings were located. On a side of the imposing church of S. Paolo Maggiore, we enter one of the most interesting archaeological sites of the historical centre: the subterranean Naples. The underground city dates back to the IV century B.C. and it consists of a tangle of large tunnels 35 m. high and 20 to 50 m. under the street level.

The tunnels were excavated by the Greeks to get the tufa as building material and later enlarged by the romans who used them as a subterranean aqueduct. This visit takes about an hour and clearly shows how expert civil engineers the romans were.

Next we take a walk along Via S. Gregorio Armeno, where we can admire the Neapolitan handcrafters in their workshops, who keep alive an old artistic tradition started in 1700 under the reign of Charles of Bourbon.