children itineraries

Children are always fascinated by stories of kings and knights. So they will be certainly interested in a tour of Neapolitan castles.

Naples has got 4 castles and 3 Royal Palaces, located in different areas of the city and with different origins. The most famous is Castel dell’Ovo, with its characteristic shape standing out on the Neapolitan seashore. The building is located on a small island, the Megaride, that is the first inhabited nucleus in Naples, founded in the 6^th century B.C. Here the Roman patrician Lucullus built his villa in the 1^st century B.C. Here was exiled the last western Roman Emperor, Romolus Augustulus, in the 5^th century A.D.  On the remains of the Villa, Normans built a castle in 12^th century. But it lost its importance when  in 13^th century the new king Anjou built a more  comfortable and safer castle, the Maschio Angioino, also called Castelnuovo (new castle)and moved his court there.

The castle’s name spreads out from a medieval legend telling that the latin poet Virgil, who in middle age was believed to be a sorcerer, put a magical egg into the foundations of the castle to support them, and foresaw that if the egg  broke, it would have been the end for the castle and doomsday for Naples. This castle offers a magnificent view of the gulf of Naples from its terraces and inside it often go exhibitions and other special events. In the 1800 a small fishing village (Borgo Marinari) sprung up around the castle, this village is still existing but is now renowned for its picturesque marina and several fine restaurants.

The other castle, that is the first monument you see coming from the sea, is  Castel Nuovo that, was built for strategic reasons, in order to warden  the port by the new French dominators. It is in Gothic style, with 5 towers, and its Chapel was decorated by frescoes by Giotto, but  unfortunately, almost nothing is left of them.  It was radically restored by the following dominating dynasty, the Aragona.

A famous triumphal arch was added to the main gate to celebrate Alfonso d’Aragona’s entrance in Naples.

In a hall of the castle the famous Barons conspiracy against King Ferrante, Alfonso's son, occurred. The King had invited the barons for a feast; but, a certain point, he had the garrison close all the hall's doors and all the barons were arrested and later executed. The Barons' Hall was the seat of the Council of the commune of Naples until 2006.

by Gaia