Naples off the main route: a chapel, a cloister, an arcade and a cemetery
A Caravaggio in a chapel built by a brotherhood that ransomed prisoners, a cloister sheathed in majolica, a glass arcade raised after a cholera outbreak, and a cemetery that reopened its doors after seven years.
- Pio Monte della Misericordia
- A Caravaggio from 1607, €5
- Santa Chiara
- The majolica cloister, €7
- Galleria Umberto I
- A glass dome from 1890, free to enter
All four places lie along the walk through the old town and the hill above it, and none is on the main route to the Archaeological Museum or the Sansevero Chapel. Behind each is a story the façade doesn't tell: a brotherhood that ransomed prisoners, nuns who commissioned a porcelain garden, a city after a cholera outbreak, and a cemetery of bones that Neapolitans spent decades naming.
Pio Monte della Misericordia — the painting nobody moved
On Via dei Tribunali, a few steps from the Sansevero Chapel, a noble brotherhood founded an institution in 1601 that ransomed prisoners and treated the sick, and it still operates as a charity today. In 1607 Caravaggio painted the 'Seven Works of Mercy' for the church's altar, and the painting hasn't moved since — you see it exactly where it was painted for, not in a museum. Entry is €5.
Santa Chiara — a cloister that changed trade
The Santa Chiara monastery dates from the 14th century, but in the 18th its cloister was sheathed in painted majolica tiles, with columns wrapped in vines and lemons and benches showing scenes of daily life — a hunt, a game, a farmyard — instead of religious ones. The garden is still split into four parts today, two in the Italian style and two planted with citrus. Entry is €7.
Galleria Umberto I — glass after cholera
After the 1884 cholera outbreak the city launched a major overhaul of its old quarters, and this shopping arcade with its iron-and-glass dome, opened in 1890 by the San Carlo theatre, was part of it. Entry is free at any time, and the arcade is still a shortcut between Via Toledo and Piazza San Ferdinando.
Cimitero delle Fontanelle — the cemetery Naples adopted
In a quarry in Rione Sanità, the bones of those with no place in a regular cemetery were laid for centuries — victims of plague and cholera, the poor with no family. Out of that grew the cult of the anime pezzentelle, in which residents chose a skull, gave it a name and cared for it in exchange for protection. The cemetery was closed for seven years and reopened on 18 April 2026, shut on Wednesdays. Entry is €6, with a compulsory time-slot booking.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Is the Cimitero delle Fontanelle open every day?
No, it's closed on Wednesdays; entry is €6 and a time-slot booking is compulsory.
Is the Galleria Umberto I free?
Yes, you walk through it any time, like any other street.
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