Spaccanapoli

Spaccanapoli is the straight narrow street that 'splits Naples' — literally the ancient Decumanus Inferiore, the lower of the three east-west axes Greek colonists laid out in the 5th century BCE. Walking its 2 km is walking 2,500 years of Naples stacked vertically — the street-level shops on classical Roman foundations, the 13th-century churches above the shops, the 18th-century balconies above the churches. The neighbourhood contains Naples' highest density of historic churches, including San Domenico Maggiore and the Cappella Sansevero (whose 1753 Veiled Christ marble sculpture is possibly the most astonishing thing in southern Italy). Pizzerias that define the form — Sorbillo, Di Matteo, Michele — cluster along Via dei Tribunali. Stay here for Naples at maximum density, noise, and pleasure.