Must see museums in Naples and how to spend less money

There are so many great museums in Naples and in this article I’d like to talk about some of them. Also, I’ll share some special museum promotions, discounts or pocket-friendly offers for the ones who are planning to visit some museums on their trip to Naples.

In 2017 even 50 milion people visited Italian museums. That’s 5 million more than in 2016. And it’s a big compliment for Italian art and history. Museums in Campania region were the second most visited region museums and Pompeii is the second most visited museum in Italy, which hosted 3.4 million visitors in one year.

The number of visits to museums grows, also, thanks to the encouraging promotion: free admission to the state cultural heritage sites and some civic museums throughout Italy every first Sunday of the month. That is perfect for the ones who are on a low budget but still want to visit museums in Naples. You just need to remember these 3 simple steps: be sure to come on the first Sunday of the month; come early, because the queue can be quite long; and check if the museum that you want to visit participates on this event.

For the young European Union citizens, some state museums have big discounts. For the children under 18 years museums are for free, and under 25 the admission costs 50 % less.

Also, the city offers some discount cards with great deals for the tourists: special prices for museums, excursions, food and accommodation. Some cards even include the public bus tickets, so it becomes even more comfortable to move around the city. Whit this touristic card, its holder may skip the waiting line to get the tickets. For more information you can ask inside the museums or in any touristic info point.

Under this paragraph we will pubblish a list of the museums to see absolutely on a trip to Naples.

The Neapolitan archeology museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale) keeps the richest and most valuable archaeological works of art in Italy and it’s considered one of the most important archeological museums in the world. It’s a definite must-see for every tourist. 

The tour to the underground Naples is an unforgettable experience, revealing the Neapolitan character: foxy, joyful and superstitious. At present, about 900 000 m2 underground cavity are known. They reach 40 meters below the city. The first underground cavity traces leads to almost 5000 years ago. One of the tours you should go on is in “Napoli Sotterranea”, “Galleria Borbonica”, “Catacombs of Saint Gennaro” or “Cimitero delle Fontanelle”.

Another thing not to be missed in Naples are the castles:  Castel dell’Ovo, Maschio Angioino and Castel Sant’ Elmo, the highest point of the city, with the breathtaking panorama. And the royal Places like Palazzo Reale, or Reggia di Caserta

The great pieces of art in Naples are churches. There are so many of them in the city that it would require a separate article to describe them. I’ll mention here only a few of them. The Cathedral of Naples Santa Maria Assunta, in other words, Duomo, enchanting by its colorful history; Stunning Certosa di San Martino from which you can see a spectacular view of Vesuvius.

And the most important religious complex in Naples is Cappella di Sansevero, a beautiful chapel with extraordinary decorations, that attract many tourists each year through all over the world. The main star of this chapel is the famous Veiled Crist “Cristo Velato” sculpture made by Giuseppe Sanmartino. There are also many strange legends about the owner of this chapel; that it was thanks to his chemical experiments that the veil on the body of Crist got crystalized; or that he killed his two servants to study the human blood weasels.  

The Neapolitan art fans fascinated by Caravaggio can find 3 paintings of this great painter in Naples.

One of them is in the museum of Capodimonte “La Flagellazione di Cristo”. Here you can also find a very big and rich painting collection of the great Neapolitan school artists and also the foreigners; the other one, “Le sette opere di Misericordia” is in the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia where you can also admire some other great Neapolitan painter works.

The third Caravaggio painting “Il Martirio di Sant’Orsola” is in Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano with the collection of a great Neapolitan sculptor and drawer Vincenzo Gemito. 

Campania is full of archeological sites opened for the tourists. Besides the most popular ones, Pompeii or Herculaneum, it’s possible to visit the remains of the ancient cities like Cuma, the first colonized land by Greeks in the mainland of Italy; Baia, according to a legend where Ulysses crew member was buried. There were many rich villas and big thermal bath complexes. It’s possible to visit here the sunken city of Baia while on a special excursion by boat with a transparent bottom to observe the remains of submerged villas. Other important ancient sites are: Oplontis, Boscoreale and Stabia ancient Villas, or one of the biggest Roman amphitheaters in Capua. Going towards Salerno There is a beautiful ancient city Paestum with the extraordinary Greek temples.

If your goal, while visiting Naples, is to see the archeological sites then you should use a special 3-day ticket with which you’ll be able to visit these 5 sites: Pompei, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Stabia, Boscoreale.

I hope that these few museum ideas will inspire you on your choices which sites to visit and maybe it will help you to save some money too.