The Piazza del Plebiscito is an immense paved area across which the domed San Francesco di Paola church and the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace of Naples) face each other. The area was once covered with a conglomeration of buildings, but this arrangement proved offensive to Joachim Murat, Napoleon’s brother-in-law, who found himself ruling Naples from 1808 until 1815. He had the buildings removed as part of a plan for a large, symmetrical expanse and began construction on some of the surrounding buildings. But Napoleon’s misfortune became Murat’s misfortune, and he was ousted before the plan could be completed. The reinstated Ferdinand of Bourbon resolved to finish things, though, and he commissioned the design and construction of the San Francesco di Paola church, a large domed structure inspired by the Pantheon in Rome.

Nella and Piazza Med   Lrg	Bob and Piazza Med   Lrg
Piazza del Plebiscito MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV-HD	San Francesco di Paola Church Med   Lrg
Statue of Ferdinand I (by Antonio Calì) Med   Lrg	Inside San Francesco di Paola MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV

Automobiles are not allowed in the Piazza these days, and the youth of Naples takes advantage of the open space to practice their soccer.

Construction on the Palazzo Reale began in 1600 but wasn’t completed until 1843. As one would expect of a royal palace, it’s full of magnificent rooms. Again, they accepted the ArteCard, and like the Castel Sant’ Elmo, they let us in for free. It appeared that photography was against the rules, so we didn’t take very many pictures while inside.

The Palazzo Reale Med   Lrg	The Monumental Staircase Med   Lrg
Climbing the Staircase MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV-HD	The Throne Room MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV
The Roof Garden Med   Lrg	Mantel, Luca Giordano's Room Med   Lrg
The Hall of Hercules MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV	French Vase, Hall of Hercules Med   Lrg

The façade was fair game, though, so we took several pictures of the niches containing statues of several of the most well-known kings of Naples ("well-known" being a relative term for non-Italians).

Eastern Façade Med   Lrg	Outside the Palace MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV-HD
Roger II (Ruggiero il Normanno), 1095-1154 Med   Lrg	Charles I (Carlo d'Angio), 1226-1285 Med   Lrg

Near the Piazza is the medieval-looking Castel Nuovo, originally built in the 13th Century, and then completely rebuilt in the 15th Century. It was called nuovo, or new, to distinguish it from the other castles in town, which were less new. The castle has five large cylindrical towers made of darker stone from the rest of the structure and an archway (the Arco di Trionfo) which is quite impressive, but doesn’t seem to match anything else in the castle architecturally, despite being built around the same time.

Castel Nuovo from Castel Sant'Elmo Med   Lrg	Castel Nuovo Med   Lrg
Connie and Castle Med   Lrg	Castel Nuovo MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV-HD
Arco di Trionfo (Top) Med   Lrg	Arco di Trionfo (Bottom) Med   Lrg

From the Castel Nuovo, we walked up the Via Toledo all the way back to our hotel. We spent the last part of our last day in Naples recovering from the first part, but we eventually stirred ourselves enough to go to a pizzeria around the corner which had wonderful pizza and wonderful pasta, apparently par for the course in Naples.

Via Toledo Med   Lrg	The Spanish Quarter Med   Lrg
Nella and Bob at Dinner Med   Lrg	Seafood Pasta Med   Lrg

There was much we didn’t see in and around Naples, but we had a great time with what we did see, and hope to return someday.