Among the monuments known to more or less everyone, the classic routes that tourists follow on holiday, every city hides lesser-known yet wonderful corners which, once discovered, can reveal an unexpected soul. The same is true of the Neapolitan capital, and so we suggest what to see in Naples — a tour of five unusual places to visit in the city.

Urban trekking

Walking through the alleyways and streets of Naples is undoubtedly the best way to experience this city and grasp its essence, its peculiarities. The first suggestion, therefore, is to dedicate a few hours to urban trekking. There are many possible routes, but one particularly evocative one — best walked around sunset — starts from via Foria and climbs up one of Naples' 200 staircases: you take salita Montagnola and then make your way up the Capodimonte hill to reach the steps of the Moiariello, which retain a distinctly rural character. Along via Ottavio Morisani you can take in the scenic beauty of the Gulf of Naples: Vesuvius, the Sorrento Peninsula, Capri, San Martino. Finally, passing the Astronomical Observatory, you reach the Royal Palace and the park of Capodimonte.

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Cemeteries

The next destination is a double visit with a common theme: cemeteries. Often overlooked because they are considered gloomy and unappealing, they in fact contain the history of the city and preserve its secrets. In Naples there are two worth visiting: the Poggioreale Cemetery is an enormous architectural work built in the late nineteenth century by Antonio Maresca under the supervision of Joachim Murat, and it encompasses the quadrangle of illustrious men, the Jewish cemetery and the English cemetery. Here you will find the tombs of Benedetto Croce, Salvatore Di Giacomo and Raffaele Viviani. The other cemetery is that of the Fontanelle, one of the most fascinating and mysterious sites in Naples. In this cemetery, carved into the tufa rock of the Materdei hill, the remains of the victims of the seventeenth-century plague and the nineteenth-century cholera epidemic are preserved; it also holds the remains of poor people who had no means of a proper burial or who could not find space within the holy grounds. An estimated 40,000 human remains are held here. It is said that beneath the current floor level, bones are packed to a depth of at least four metres, arranged in an orderly fashion, at the time, by specialist gravediggers. Anonymous remains, adopted by popular devotion and known as "anime pezzentelle".

Villa della Gaiola

Mysterious and breathtaking in equal measure is Villa della Gaiola, which stands on one of Naples' smaller islands, opposite the Posillipo coast, within the Parco sommerso di Gaiola. The villa does not enjoy a good reputation and is considered cursed: the notoriety stems from the frequent premature deaths of its owners. In the 1920s, for instance, it belonged to the Swiss national Hans Braun, who was found dead wrapped in a carpet; shortly afterwards his wife drowned at sea. The next owner, the German Otto Grunback, died of a heart attack while staying at the villa. The same fate befell the pharmaceutical industrialist Maurice-Yves Sandoz, who died by suicide in a psychiatric institution in Switzerland. The German steel magnate who subsequently purchased it, Baron Paul Karl Langheim, was ruined by his associations; the island then passed to Gianni Agnelli, who suffered the deaths of many family members. More recently it passed to Jean Paul Getty, whose grandson was kidnapped by the 'Ndrangheta, and subsequently to Gianpasquale Grappone, who became embroiled in the collapse of his insurance company. The island is now the property of the Campania Region.

Botanical garden

A completely different atmosphere awaits as you stroll along the paths, through the greenhouses and around the areas of Naples' Botanical Garden, one of the largest and richest in Italy. Its extensive heritage encompasses not only thousands of herbaceous, arboreal and shrub species from every corner of the world, but also specimens of almost every flower in existence. The Botanical Garden is organised around themed routes and gardens: desert plants, poisonous plants, beach plants, orchards, citrus groves, Mediterranean plants, and even plants mentioned in the Bible. There are also experimental plots and a garden dedicated entirely to the visually impaired. Watching the seasons change in this little corner of paradise is a relaxing and pleasurable experience.

Metro

An unexpected wonder is the Naples metro, the most "surprising" in the world, according to CNN, which drew up a ranking of the most beautiful metro stations in Europe, placing Toledo station at the top. The "art stations", as the project is known, were promoted by the city administration to make transport hubs more appealing and offer everyone the chance of an encounter with contemporary art. The interior and exterior spaces of the stations have welcomed around 200 works by 100 of the most prestigious contemporary artists, making it one of the most interesting examples of a decentralised museum distributed across the entire urban area. The construction of the stations themselves, entrusted to internationally renowned architects, represented a significant moment of regeneration for vast swathes of the urban fabric. For the price of a ticket, you travel and visit a different exhibition at every station.