Strolling up Via Chiaia, you’re walking through one of Naples’ showcases of Liberty style—the Italian branch of Art Nouveau. Its name comes from the Spanish playa, meaning “beach district,” and the street links the Chiaia neighborhood to the rest of the city. Chiaia stretches along the seafront around Villa Comunale Park. Originally outside the city walls, it developed late, with palaces and villas only beginning to appear here in the 16th century. Today, it’s the area to explore if you want to see Naples’ upscale, airy residential side. For now, though, enjoy Via Chiaia itself—entirely pedestrian, lined with elegant shops and refined, old-world cafés. Along the way you’ll spot beautiful churches, the Sannazaro Theatre, the 16th-century Palazzo Cellammare, and one of the graceful arches of the Chiaia Bridge, built in 1636 to connect the Pizzofalcone area with the Spanish Quarters.