Basilica of San Pietro ad Aram

Walking along the chaotic and pulsating Corso Umberto I (the famous "Rettifilo"), not far from the Central Station, it's easy to get distracted by shop windows and relentless traffic. Yet, right here hides a threshold that leads to the very dawn of Neapolitan history. The Basilica of San Pietro ad Aram is much more than a splendid Baroque architecture: tradition has it that it was founded on the exact spot where Saint Peter the Apostle, on his journey to Rome, stopped to preach, baptizing Saint Candida and Saint Aspren, the first bishop of Naples.

The very name of the church, ad Aram, guards its greatest treasure: the stone altar (the ara) upon which, according to legend, the Prince of the Apostles celebrated the Eucharist. But the wonder doesn't end in the luminous nave, rich with frescoes and canvases by artists like Massimo Stanzione and Luca Giordano. Descending the stairs, you enter the bowels of the earth to discover an evocative early Christian crypt. In this fascinating subterranean cemetery, the austerity of the first Christian communities has merged over the centuries with the intimate and authentic Neapolitan devotion to the anime pezzentelle (poor souls), in a continuous dialogue between the living and the dead. A place where the ancient mystery of faith can literally be touched firsthand.