Crowning the Vomero hill high above central Naples, Castel Sant Elmo is the largest of the four castles of the city and offers what many regard as the finest single view of the Bay of Naples and the surrounding region. The current six-pointed star-shaped fortress was built between 1537 and 1547 by the Spanish viceroy as a stronghold dominating the city below. The site has been fortified since at least the tenth century, when a small church and monastic complex stood on the hilltop. The Angevin kings of Naples built a first castle here in the fourteenth century, but the great star fort visible today is the work of the Spanish military engineer Pedro Luis Escriva, who designed it according to the latest principles of Renaissance fortification, with low, thick angled bastions designed to deflect cannon fire. For centuries the castle served as a prison as well as a fortress, holding political prisoners through the long Spanish, Bourbon and Italian eras. Famous prisoners included the philosopher Tommaso Campanella, the historian Pietro Giannone and members of the short-lived Parthenopean Republic of 1799, several of whom were executed within its walls. The castle was substantially restored during the late twentieth century and is now used as a public cultural space, with the lower galleries hosting changing exhibitions of contemporary art and the upper level given over to a small museum dedicated to twentieth-century Neapolitan art known as the Museo del Novecento a Napoli. The high rampart walk around the perimeter of the fortress provides the great draw for most visitors, with a sweeping panorama that takes in the Bay of Naples, Mount Vesuvius across the water, the islands of Capri and Ischia in the distance, the dense urban fabric of the city below and the green expanse of the Vomero hill itself. Reached by funicular from the lower districts or by a steep walk up from the centre, the castle pairs naturally with the adjacent Certosa di San Martino, the former Carthusian monastery now serving as a national museum, and the two together make a satisfying half-day excursion above the noise of the city below.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Via Tito Angelini 20A, Naples, Italy

Opening Date: 01/01/1547