San Francesco's colonnade
The half-circle of columns on the Pantheon's heir โ a stone embrace for the square.
Wolfgang Pehlemann โ CC BY-SA 3.0 de ยท Giorgio Visco โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Rijksmuseum โ CC0 ยท MOs810 โ CC BY 4.0
Legend says a queen's curse; geometry says hidden pavement slopes and the loss of visual bearings โ you inevitably drift to one side. Try it between the horsemen: twenty metres suffice to entertain your companions.
Yes, for free minutes: a genuine Pantheon rotunda inside under a solemn closed dome โ an architectural surprise purer than the faรงade promises, and the coolest midday refuge.
Sunset on the square, coffee and sfogliatella at Gambrinus, a Galleria Umberto stroll, then dinner in neighbouring Chiaia or up Via Toledo โ the standard royal Neapolitan evening, no car needed.
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The Plebiscito is Naples's great square and one of Italy's largest: an open stone theatre embraced by the semicircular colonnade of San Francesco di Paola โ the Pantheon's descendant in columns โ facing the Royal Palace's long regal front, the vast car-free paving between them now the city's open living room. Its name recalls the 1860 plebiscite that joined Naples to united Italy, and the city's great concerts and celebrations fill it. Its beloved folk rite is the blindfold game: eyes covered at the palace door, you try to cross straight between the two equestrian statues โ everyone's comic failure explained by the pavement's hidden slopes. Everything royal is steps away: the palace beside it, Gambrinus โ Naples's most famous cafรฉ โ on its corner, Galleria Umberto and the San Carlo behind: this is royal Naples's point zero.
The half-circle of columns on the Pantheon's heir โ a stone embrace for the square.
Church and palace confronting each other across grand emptiness.
Naples's folk rite โ the crossing impossible to walk straight.
Piazza del Plebiscito, 80132 Naples