Castel Nuovo

In front of you is the Maschio Angioino, as Neapolitans call it. It is called Castel «Nuovo», the new castle, because when Charles I of Anjou had it built between 1279 and 1282, the city already had two older castles. Charles moved the capital of the kingdom to Naples and wanted a residence beside the port.

1From the Angevins to the Aragonese

Great artists worked at the Angevin court: Giotto painted in the castle chapel around 1330, although almost nothing of those frescoes survives. In 1442 Alfonso V of Aragon, the Magnanimous, conquered Naples and rebuilt the castle almost entirely. The round towers you see date from that period, designed to withstand artillery.

The marble arch at the entrance celebrates Alfonso's triumph in Naples in 1443: look for the relief of the procession, with the king seated on a chariot.

2The Barons' Conspiracy

Inside is the Hall of the Barons. According to the chronicles, it was here in 1486 that Ferdinand I of Aragon, Alfonso's son, gathered the nobles who had plotted against him, on the pretext of a wedding, and had them arrested. Many were executed. The crocodile said to devour prisoners in the castle dungeons, on the other hand, belongs to legend.

Today the castle houses the Civic Museum, and the Naples city council meets in its main hall.

3What to look for

• The triumphal arch, one of the great works of the Renaissance in southern Italy.
• The cylindrical towers of volcanic stone.
• The moat that still surrounds the walls.