Museo di Capodimonte

Charles of Bourbon had a problem most people would envy: he'd inherited the Farnese Collection — one of the greatest accumulations of Renaissance and Baroque art ever assembled — from his mother, and his existing palace was too small to hold it. So in 1738, he built a new one on the Capodimonte hill, surrounded by a royal hunting estate that is now one of the largest urban parks in Europe at 134 hectares. The palace took over a century to complete, but the art collection started moving in almost immediately.

What the Farnese amassed is staggering. Titian's portraits of Pope Paul III and his grandsons, Caravaggio's "Flagellation of Christ" (originally painted for the church of San Domenico Maggiore and moved here in the 1970s), Masaccio's "Crucifixion," Bellini's "Transfiguration," and entire rooms of Parmigianino, Correggio, and El Greco. The collection spans from the 13th to the 18th century and rivals the Uffizi in Florence, yet receives a fraction of the visitors. On a weekday morning, you might have a Caravaggio to yourself.

The palace itself is painted a distinctive salmon pink that's visible from across the city, and its second-floor Royal Apartments preserve the Bourbon decorative scheme — porcelain rooms, silk-wallpapered halls, and a remarkable collection of armory. The third floor houses a contemporary art collection with works by Andy Warhol and other 20th-century artists, proving that Capodimonte has never stopped collecting.

The surrounding park, the Real Bosco di Capodimonte, is where Neapolitans come to escape the city without leaving it. Ancient trees, walking paths, and views back toward the bay make it one of the few green spaces in a city that is otherwise solidly, gloriously built-up.