Wedged between two squat, military towers of dark tuff is an arch of white marble that looks as if it had arrived from another city. Porta Capuana was built in 1484 at the wish of the Aragonese king and designed by Giuliano da Maiano, a Tuscan architect called to Naples to bring the new taste: the towers were there to defend, the arch to make clear who was in charge. The two towers are called Honour and Virtue, and the gate opened onto the road to Capua.
What to see
The contrast of materials is everything: the grey, rough tuff of the towers, raised to withstand cannon fire, and the smooth marble of the arch, with friezes, medallions and coats of arms carved as on a precious piece of furniture. It is the moment the Renaissance enters Naples, and you see it literally wedged inside a medieval structure.
Around it is one of the most working-class quarters of the city: the square is taken up by stalls, vans unload, people cross between the cars. A little further on stand Castel Capuano, for centuries the law court of Naples, and the church of Santa Caterina a Formiello with its dome. It is not a tidied corner, and that is exactly what makes it interesting: the monument has not been isolated, it still stands inside the life of the street.
Visiting
The gate is in piazza Porta Capuana, ten minutes on foot from the cathedral and five from the central station; it can always be seen, free, and you walk under it. Twenty minutes. The street market works in the morning, and at rush hour the area is chaotic: watch the traffic and your bags.
Our editors' tip
Come in the morning, with the market going, and stand some thirty metres off at the side of the square: from there you see the white marble above the heads of people buying fish, and you understand that in Naples monuments do not live in a case. Then go close and look at the worn reliefs at the foot of the arch: five centuries of hands and shoulders.
