3 Best Sights in Naples, Italy

This small square 300 yards up the hill from Via Toledo is a shrine to to Napoli's all-time favorite soccer player, Diego Maradona. "The hand of God, the head of Maradona," quoth the famous Argentina-born superstar after scoring a much-disputed World cup goal against England. This sentiment and its ability to mix the earthly and fallible with the divine is also peculiarly Neapolitan. The south wall is dominated by a mural of the Argentine giant featuring his original Swarovski diamond earring. Painted by fan Mario Filardi in 1990 when Napoli won their second league title, it was given an overhaul in 2016 with the face subsequently retouched by Argentine street artist Francisco Bosoletti (whose mural Iside, inspired by Pudicizia del Corradini in the Cappella Sansevero, is on the west wall). When Maradona passed away in 2020, fans gathered here to pay their respects, as well as at the city’s stadium (now renamed Stadio Maradona), and the square has now transformed from a crammed parking lot to a colourful museum for the footballing hero, with pilgrims leaving photos, scarves and gadgets in tribute. There is another giant mural of Maradona in the eastern suburb of San Giovanni a Teduccio, painted by Neapolitan-Dutch artist Jorit in 2017.

Internationally renowned Neapolitan-Dutch street artist Jorit completed this 50-foot mural in September 2015 to honor the feast-day of the city's patron saint on the 19th. Where Spaccanapoli meets Via Duomo, politicized Jorit depicts the martyr wearing a backpack in homage to the immigration crisis and, in a nod to Caravaggio, used the face of a factory-worker friend. Jorit also has murals, including Diego Maradona and Che Guevara, in the Parco dei Murales in San Giovanni di Teduccio, 3 miles to the east, and in Vomero.

This piece is by controversial street artist Banksy. Located on the wall of the birthplace of 17th-century philosopher Giambattista Vico, a stencilled La Madonna con la Pistola sits beside a religious shrine to the Virgin Mary.