Spaccanapoli Audio Guide

Spaccanapoli: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Spaccanapoli

   Welcome to Spaccanapoli, one of the most famous streets in Naples. You are standing on the stretch known as Via San Biagio dei Librai, which means Saint Blaise of the booksellers. This guide follows the story of the whole street, and I will tell you clearly when we are talking about the street as a whole rather than this one stretch. The name itself is a little joke and a little truth. Spaccanapoli means Naples splitter. Climb to a high viewpoint, such as the belvedere of the Charterhouse of San Martino, and the street appears as a long straight cut dividing the old city into two halves. It is not one street with one name, but a chain of connected streets running east and west through the historic center. It begins around Piazza del Gesù Nuovo, continues along Via Benedetto Croce, becomes Via San Biagio dei Librai where you are now, and then crosses Via Duomo, named for the cathedral. Today it is crowded with residents, workers, tourists, market stalls and shops. Over the next few minutes we will travel back to the Greeks and Romans, untangle the street's many names, and look at the stone diamonds of a famous church.

2. 02

   A Greek and Roman Blueprint

   Here is the surprise: Spaccanapoli is not a medieval accident. It follows the line of the decumanus inferior, the lower of three main east to west streets in the plan of ancient Neapolis. The Greeks founded the city, and the Romans later used the same type of street grid, with long streets running one way and cross-streets, called cardini, running the other. Those three ancient streets still exist. The central one, the greater decumanus, is now Via dei Tribunali. The upper one is now Via Anticaglia and Via della Sapienza. And the lower one is the street beneath your feet. Between them, narrow alleys known as vicoli still cross at right angles, so the old geometry is still readable if you glance down a side street. This is part of why the historic center of Naples was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. Think of the street as a very old ruler laid across the city. Twenty-five centuries of churches, palaces and workshops have been built along it, and the line itself has barely moved.

3. 03

   A Street of Many Names

   Ask a Neapolitan for the official address of Spaccanapoli and you may start an argument, because the street has had many names over time, and the name Via Spaccanapoli never officially existed. Spaccanapoli is the popular name for a sequence of streets, and the signs change as you walk. The most famous stretch is Via Benedetto Croce, named for the philosopher who lived there and was its most celebrated resident until his death in 1952. Since 1954 the street has carried his name, and his former home, in the Palazzo Filomarino della Rocca, now houses an institute for historical studies. Further east comes Via San Biagio dei Librai, where you are now. After it crosses Via Duomo, the route continues as Via Vicaria Vecchia, a name recalling the palace of the Vicar. This road led to the city's court, which stayed at Castel Capuano until the Centro Direzionale was built. Today it is where, as so often in Naples, ancient Greece meets the modern world.

4. 04

   Stone Diamonds and Street Flavours

   At the western start of the street, in Piazza del Gesù Nuovo, stands one of its best-known landmarks: the church of Gesù Nuovo. Its facade is covered in pointed, diamond-shaped stones, a style called bugnato. That surface is older than the church. It comes from a palace built around 1470 for the Sanseverino family, which the Jesuits turned into their new church between 1584 and 1601, with a design by Giuseppe Valeriano. Inside, the plan is a Greek cross, and the Baroque decoration includes frescoes by Jusepe de Ribera, Francesco Solimena and Belisario Corenzio. So even the church's stern exterior began as a palace wall. Then there is the street's living side. Spaccanapoli is a paradise for food lovers: the cuoppo, a paper cone of fried seafood or vegetables, sfogliatella pastry, pizza fritta, and babà soaked in rum. Not far from the street, Via San Gregorio Armeno is famous for workshops where artisans craft the tiny figures of the traditional nativity scene. And from Piazza San Gaetano you can descend into Napoli Sotterranea, an underground network of tunnels dating back 2,400 years.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Spaccanapoli rewards slow walking. Stand where you are on Via San Biagio dei Librai and look along the line of the street, then glance down a narrow side alley. Those crossings are the same pattern the ancient planners set out, and you can still feel it. As you wander, notice how often the street name changes on the corner signs, and how the buildings alternate between solid palace walls, church facades and busy shopfronts. Keep an eye out for the smells of fried snacks and sweet pastries, and for the figures of the nativity workshops if you drift toward Via San Gregorio Armeno. The street continues in both directions, and each stretch has its own character. Walk west toward Via Benedetto Croce and Piazza del Gesù Nuovo, or east across Via Duomo toward Via Vicaria Vecchia, and see what changes. There is a lot more history in these few hundred steps than any single visit can hold.