Naples Italy things to do

The doll hospital

It is as if you are a kid again once you enter the threshold of the Ospedale delle Bambole (The Doll Hospital). It was in 1899 when Luigino, the stage designer of the Theatre San Carlo di Napoli, started to “take care of” and repair rag dolls in his age-old shop on Via San Biagio dei Librai, 81 in Napoli. Today his son and his great-grandchild Tiziana, follow in the footsteps of this extraordinary traditionalist, mending dolls of every sort that enthusiasts and collectors bring to The Doll Hospital from all over the world. Not only are the heads of the dolls repaired, dolls are given new eyes and hair, and clothes are resewn to renew the vitality of the dolls making them more beautiful than ever—as they once were. (Via San Biagio dei Libri 81 Call: 081-203067).

Pharmacy of the incurable

Reopened to the public in 2012 after a lengthily restoration, this historical pharmacy was inaugurated in 1700 next to the Ospedale degli Incurabili (Hospital of the Incurable). It was named so as a result of the black plague epidemic which infected the city in 1500. The pharmacy, made up of a sales office and a laboratory, has “reappeared” today just as it was in another age. It possesses stunning furnishings in walnut, bottles and polychromatic vases in their original ceramics, the drug cabinets carved by the cabinet-maker, Agostino Fucito. On the ceiling there is the grand painting of Pietro Bardellino entitled Macaone che cura un guerriero ferito (A Macaone Treating a Warrior). Annesso alla farmacia, anche un museo dedicato alla storia della medicina a Napoli. (A fianco dell’Ospedale degli Incurabili - Via Longo M., 50)

Museum of the treasures of saint gennaro

Reopened to the public in 2012 after a lengthily restoration, this historical pharmacy was inaugurated in 1700 next to the Ospedale degli Incurabili (Hospital of the Incurable). It was named so as a result of the black plague epidemic which infected the city in 1500. The pharmacy, made up of a sales office and a laboratory, has “reappeared” today just as it was in another age. It possesses stunning furnishings in walnut, bottles and polychromatic vases in their original ceramics, the drug cabinets carved by the cabinet-maker, Agostino Fucito. On the ceiling there is the grand painting of Pietro Bardellino entitled Macaone che cura un guerriero ferito (A Macaone Treating a Warrior). Annesso alla farmacia, anche un museo dedicato alla storia della medicina a Napoli. (A fianco dell’Ospedale degli Incurabili - Via Longo M., 50)

Roman theatre of neapolis

Imagine digging in your cellar and finding the remains of an ancient Roman theatre! That is what exactly befell a Napolitan women, who, wanting to enlarge her cellar, opened an entrance to a Roman theatre, named Neapolis or Dell’Anticaglia. It is located on one of the Decuman of the city, and was constructed in the First century A.D. Yet not very far from this place, an old artisan discovered that the trap door that was hidden unde the bed to keep wine fresh, was the sole entrance to the cavea—the passage under the stage for the actors who needed to change their costumes. The theatre, today surrounded by homes, has been restored and is open to the public. (Via Anticaglia)

Cemetery of the drinking fountains

Absolutely one of the places in Napoli considered the most fascinating and, at the same time, disturbing. The Cimitero delle Fontanelle (Cemetery of the Drinking Fountains) still hosts today the visible remains of more than 40,000 souls dead due to the famous epidemia of the plague that hit the city in the sixteenth century, and the cholera that infested the city in the eighteenth century. It is here that for years the stravagant rite of the so-called “adoption” and the arrangement of a skull, capuzzella, that belongs to an unknown soul, is abandoned, pezzentella, in order to reciprocate protection. (Via Fontanelle 154 )

Purgatory at Arco

Connected to the Cimitero delle Fontanelle is the Complesso Museale Di Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco, a site which is unique in the world. It is entirely dedicated to the souls lost in Purgatory and in search of “cool relief” from the penalty inflicted from above. The Purgatorio ad Arco is also called the Chiesa delle teste di morto (Church of the Dead Heads). A location rich in Baroque art but also made of legends such as those related to the “skull of Concetta that sweated,” a skull that, though different from all others, was never covered with dust, but always appears shining and clean, because, it is said, of the sweat that covers the souls in Purgatory. (Via Tribunali 39)