Capuano Castle

You’re now standing in front of Castel Capuano, a castle named for its original location on the road leading to the city of Capua. The street you followed here, Via del Tribunale, traces one of Naples’ oldest urban axes, the ancient decumanus maximus. Back in Greek and Roman times, Naples was laid out on a neat grid plan. Imagine three main streets running east to west: the upper, central, and lower decumanus. Crossing them were north–south streets called cardini, and together they formed a grid that still shapes the historic center today. The street is called Via del Tribunale, or Court Street, because Castel Capuano served as the city’s courthouse until recently. It was originally built in the 12th century by William I, also known as "the Bad"—you might not know him, but he was the son of Roger II of Sicily, who was the very first king of Naples. The castle has undergone many changes over the centuries. In the 16th century, the Spanish viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo decided to centralize all the city’s legal offices here and used the castle’s cellars as a prison. That arrangement lasted an impressive five centuries. The castle is open to visitors, and inside you’ll find the Cappella della Sommaria, a chapel built in 1548, and the famous Hall of Busts, with its stunning decor and dark history. It was here that Sergianni Caracciolo, the prime minister and lover of Queen Joan II of Naples, was brutally assassinated. Rumor has it that the queen, nicknamed “the Queen of Bees” for her many affairs, ordered his murder. Gossip of the time even suggests she had a habit of feeding her rejected lovers to crocodiles. And on that strange note, I’ll leave you to explore the castle.