Tetti del Duomo

The cathedral includes elevated walkways about forty metres above the nave, near a frescoed chapel. From the roof level, the city's domes, the bay and Vesuvius are visible, with the Greek street grid discernible below.

Why it matters

The cathedral's roof level is in the middle of Naples' historic centre. Restoration work carried out in 2015 under the Grande Progetto for the UNESCO historic centre stabilised the roofs and exposed spaces that had been inaccessible for centuries.

What to notice

The Cappella degli Illustrissimi was built between 1308 and 1320 by Archbishop Umberto d'Ormont for the bishops of Lyon. Its counter-façade carries a Tree of Jesse fresco attributed to Lello da Orvieto. Four Passion scenes were uncovered under later plaster in the twentieth century. The roof walkways pass over the nave and near the remains of the fifteenth-century dome. Rebuilt in 1484 under Archbishop Alessandro Carafa, the dome was restored in the sixteenth century during works by Domenico Fontana, which included frescoes by Giovanni Balducci. An eighteenth-century suspended dome, the foresta, replaced it. The original twelve-part cupola and external buttresses remain legible in the masonry. Views from the roof include Vesuvius, Capri, the Sorrentine peninsula, the Sanità valley, Spaccanapoli, the Cappella del Tesoro, Certosa di San Martino and Castel Sant'Elmo.

Context and history

The cathedral's fourth-century origins and later architectural phases are visible in its Gothic buttressing, the Carafa dome of 1484, Fontana's Baroque repairs and the eighteenth-century timber substitute. The 2015 restoration was part of the city's programme to enhance the UNESCO-listed historic centre. The ancient Greek city's rectangular plan remains discernible in the modern fabric around Piazza Cavour, Via Carbonara, the sea line and Piazza Bellini.