Royal Palace of Naples

The Royal Palace of Naples is where the city's centuries as a capital become visible. Designed by Domenico Fontana and begun in 1600 for the Spanish viceroys, it was extended and remodelled by the Austrians, then by the Bourbon kings who made Naples the capital of the largest state in Italy, briefly by the Napoleonic rulers Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat, and finally by the House of Savoy until 1946. Its long façade closes one side of Piazza del Plebiscito, the city's great ceremonial square, and the niches along it hold statues of the dynasties' founders, from Roger the Norman to Victor Emmanuel II, added in the late nineteenth century. Inside, the visit starts with the grand staircase of honour, a broad sweep of coloured marble under a high vault, deliberately designed to overwhelm arriving ambassadors. Upstairs, the Historical Apartment runs through more than thirty rooms laid out for state business and ceremony, furnished largely as in the Savoy era according to nineteenth-century inventories: throne room, ambassadors' hall, halls of tapestries, a picture gallery with Neapolitan and Flemish painting, French clocks and porcelain, and seventeenth-century frescoes by Belisario Corenzio and Battistello Caracciolo. The small Court Theatre, designed by Ferdinando Fuga for the Bourbon court, is a gem of gilt and papier-mâché statues, and the Palatine Chapel holds a celebrated Neapolitan crib. The building also houses the National Library, one of Italy's most important, and opens onto a hanging garden with views over the port to Vesuvius. Fit: history buffs, first-timers exploring the Plebiscito area, and anyone pairing it with the Reggia di Caserta for the full Bourbon story.

Why visit: Naples was a royal capital for centuries, and while Caserta was the kings' country palace, this was their city seat, wrapped into daily life: the San Carlo opera house next door was built to be reached directly from the palace, and the piazza outside was the stage for royal ceremonies. The palace suffered damage and looting in the Second World War, and long restoration work has steadily reopened its spaces, including new areas and the hanging gardens in recent years.

How to do it well: allow about an hour and a half. Take an audio guide or join a guided tour, since the rooms are rich but labelling is limited. Look up in the staircase of honour, linger in the Court Theatre, and finish in the hanging garden for the view. Check the weekly closing day and opening hours before you go, as they have changed in recent years; the palace is run by the Italian Ministry of Culture, with tickets sold through its official ticket office and resellers.

Practicals: the entrance is on Piazza del Plebiscito, a short walk from the Municipio metro and Via Toledo. Combine with the Galleria Borbonica tunnel beneath the hill behind, a tour of the San Carlo opera house next door, coffee in the Galleria Umberto I, and the Lungomare walk toward Borgo Marinari. On a rainy day the palace makes an excellent indoor anchor in the heart of the city.