San Lorenzo Maggiore ★

Burrow through 2,500 years of Neapolitan history in this best of Naples' churches

The greatest of Naples' layered churches was built in 1265 for Charles I over a 6th-century basilica, which lay over many ancient remains. The interior is pure Gothic, with tall pointed arches and an apse off of which radiate nine chapels.

This is where, in 1334, Boccaccio first caught sight of Robert of Anjou's daughter Maria, who became "Fiammetta" in his writings. Aside from some gorgeously baroque chapels of inlaid marbles, the highlight of the interior is Tino da Camaino's canopy tomb of Catherine of Austria (1323–25).

San Lorenzo preserves the best and most extensive (still rather paltry) remains of the ancient Greek and Roman cities currently open to the public. The foundations of the church are actually the walls of Neapolis' basilican law courts (this architectural type, the basilica, was adopted by the Paleochristians as a general blueprint for their first churches—here rather directly).

In the cloisters are excavated bits of the Roman city's treasury and marketplace. In the crypt are the rough remains of a Roman-era shop-lined street, a Greek temple, and a medieval building.

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