Sanfelice’s Baroque Staircase in Naples

18th century Neapolitan Rococo architecture is best illustrated in the work of Ferdinando Sanfelice (1675-1748), who is known for his striking staircases. We especially love the Palazzo della Spagnuolo. Via dei Virgini, 19. Sanfelice’s stairway in this building is distinctive for its height, the large size of its perforations, and the movement of the design. This is a great example of how architecture of the Baroque keeps your eye in movement: notice in this picture how Sanfelice skillfully draws your gaze upward, giving the structure a lightness that would otherwise not exist.

Palazzo della Spagnuolo (Naples)

Cultural Travel Guide to Naples
Check out our PDF guide Approach Guide to Italy: The Italian Baroque, which offers travelers additional information on this and other Baroque architectural gems throughout Italy.

What to Drink in Napoli (by Approach Guides Wine iPhone app)

The region of Campania (which includes the city of Naples) has more to share with the world than just Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, pizza, Vesuvius and the Amalfi coast; it is also a highlight for wine lovers, producing some of the best wine — both red and white — in all of Italy. We recommend trying a a bold and full-bodied red wine, such as an Aglianico or a medium-bodied and balanced white wine, like a Fiano.

Wine Guide for the iPhone
Learn more about the wines and wine regions mentioned in this post with the Approach Guides Wine iPhone app.

The area of Cappadocia in Turkey is one of the most beautiful and unique areas in the world. It is worth a visit for the hikes through its fantastic valleys lined with cave-hewn chapels and unique rock formations.

While there, we stayed at one of the areas boutique cave hotels: Les Maisons de Cappadoce.

Quite simply, Les Maisons de Cappadoce is an awesome hotel!

Les Maisons de Cappadoce is located in Uchisar, a small yet ancient village, located outside the busier, touristy town of Goreme. Although there are a few other hotels and restaurants in the area, it is a tranquil place where the buildings and residents coexist with the natural environment.

Interior of Studio les Chevres

The rooms, most of which are individual cave dwellings, have been carefully restored by French architect Jacques Avizou, who used old photographs, local craftsman and ancient building techniques to return the homes to their original beauty. Jacques has also decorated each room with local furniture and textiles and contemporary fixtures in the bath and kitchen areas.

Our favorite room available is Studio les Chevres; it is one of the few rooms that is completely carved out of the rock (without any additions to the structure). It is an intimate space with magnificent views over the valley below. We highly recommend staying in this room if it is available.

Although the rooms at Les Maisons de Cappadoce are significantly more expensive when compared to other places in the area (they currently list at 140+ Euros/night), in our opinion, it is worth it.

Touring the Cave-Hewn Chapels

The number of cave churches in Cappadocia — carved directly from the area’s soft, volcanic tuff rock — is estimated at 1,000, with over 150 that are decorated with frescoes.  The architecture, in particular, is amazing: the cave churches employ Byzantine-style architectural elements (such as columns, domes, and pendentives), all of which have no structural significance (they are carved into solid rock, with no load).

We highly recommend reserving a guide to trek through the Cappadocia area through the hotel. As you would expect from an architect, Jacques has contracted the services of guides that can offer the best look at the Cappadocia from a historical, architectural and environmental perspective.

Watching the Sunset

Uchisar boasts a 60-meter-high rock formation that rises above the center of the small town. A climb to the top provides the best vantage point to be had of the entire Cappadocian landscape. It’s a good stop for sunset.

What to Read Before Your Trip

Turkey’s historical synergies and cultural vibrancy combine to make for an unforgettable travel experience. To gain a full understanding of the country’s complexities, we recommend the following:

John Julius Norwich’s comprehensive but extremely entertaining book, “A Short History of Byzantium” will give you a full appreciation for the rise and fall of Constantinople and Christianity in Byzantium.

Approach Guides’ cultural travel guidebooks to Turkey, including a detailed guide to Hagia Sophia with a focus on its Islamic architectural legacy and a guide to Ancient Mediterranean Mosaics, which connects the mosaics of Turkey with those in Italy and other areas of the Mediterranean.

The Dome of the Rock, Temple Mount

Jerusalem is one of the most important historical cities in the world, and beckons all who enter through its gates to fully experience the past and present of this great city. Every major Western religion views Jerusalem as a holy city, giving it an intense spirituality of unlike any other place on earth.

In this post, we focus on the most important site in Jerusalem for Muslims: the Temple Mount (or Haram es-Sharif — Noble Sanctuary — in Arabic). The Temple Mount sits high above the city and occupies a large space, which was once the home of Herod’s Temple (the original 7 courses of the wall that served as the foundation for Herod’s Temple can be seen on the western side of the structure and are known as the Western “Wailing” Wall).

There are three key sites on the Temple Mount:

Dome of the Rock

View of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

The Dome of the Rock was built in 691 CE by the conquering Islamic Umayyad caliph, Abd al-Malik, over the former site of the two Jewish Temples, which were built, in turn, over the rock on which Abraham had planned to kill his son Isaac at God’s command. Despite its definitively Islamic orientation, the structure is based almost entirely upon Christian (more specifically, Byzantine) architectural and decorative precedent, with its prominent dome (at 20.44m in diameter, it is nearly the exact size of the dome of the Holy Sepulchre) and elaborate, internal mosaics.  This structure is intended as a shrine, not a mosque (there is no direction indicated for prayer and no room for the faithful to pray), and was chiefly intended to be a symbolic place of pilgrimage. The construction of the dome symbolizes the victory of the new faith of Islam over those religions that came before and beckons (with its text inscribed in tiles on the exterior) the non-Muslims of the city to join the victorious faith.

El-Aqsa Mosque

The El-Aqsa Mosque was originally built in 709-715, but was entirely rebuilt in 1033 after fire and earthquakes destroyed the original structure.  The current structure conforms to a basilical plan, consisting of 7 aisles lined by columns. These aisles lead to a central dome made of silver-colored lead sheets that rises over the mihrab. El-Aqsa means “the furthermost sanctuary”, implying its far distance from Mecca.

Solomon’s Stables

These stables have nothing to do with King Solomon and are actually an underground support structure erected by Herod when he needed to raise the ground level to support his expanded platform for the Temple Mount. The “stables”, which are located on the south-east corner of the Haram, supposedly had four levels of arcading that raised the ground level from 695 to 738 meters above sea level. At one point in history (most likely during the Crusader period), the arcades might have been used to house horses, hence the name.

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Recommended Travel Guide to the Temple Mount

Enhance your travel experience by learning more about the history and architecture of the Temple Mount and its hallowed position held by followers of the three great Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The PDF travel guide to the Temple Mount is only $5 and will give you a greater appreciation of this site that no other travel guidebook can offer.

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Price $5 (Format: PDF; available for immediate download)

The city of Turin (Torino in Italian) is often written off as an industrial city and overlooked by tourists who pass quickly by onto the surrounding vineyards and rice fields of Piedmont. However, to miss this Baroque architectural gem during your travels to Piedmont would be a mistake.

Torino offers elegant Baroque cafes, delicious Gianduiotti (hazelnut chocolates) and a charming old Baroque city, giving tourists a glimpse into life of the Savoy court.

The powerful Piedmontese Savoy kings chose Turin as their capital in 1563.  However, it was not until the arrival of the great Baroque architect Guarino Guarini  to the city in 1666 that the Baroque style, which has come to define the modern city, gained momentum.  This was exactly the same time that the Baroque in Rome had lost momentum (note that the great Roman Baroque architect Borromini died in 1667); accordingly, Turin (and Piedmont more generally) became the new center for the Baroque style and remained so for the next 100 years.

Walking Tour of Baroque Turin

This walking tour, which can be done in a few hours, guides you through some of Turin’s most beautiful sites, including several off-the-beaten-path highlights.  Works by all three of Turin’s great Baroque architects are represented: Guarino Guarini (1624-1683), Filippo Juvarra (1678-1736), and Bernardo Vittone (1702-70).

1. Your starting point should, of course, be Palazzo Reale. All of the big name architects to pass through the Savoy court – Vitozzi, Morello, Juvarra, and Alfieri – made a contribution of some kind to this royal residence. The interior rooms are simply stunning and a true testament to the theatricality of Baroque and Rococo art. Be sure to take a stroll through the gorgeous gardens attached to the palazzo.
2. From here you are just a few seconds away from Palazzo Madama where you can admire two masterpieces by Juvarra: the masterful Scalone Juvarriano (staircase) and the building’s beautiful undulating facade (notice how this is enhanced as the protruding elements are lighter in color).


Interior Dome of Chiesa di San Lorenzo

3. Heading toward the back of the piazza you’ll come to two Guarini masterpieces: la Chiesa di San Lorenzo (church) built between 1666-168 and la Cappella della Santa Sindone (chapel) built betwen 1668 and 1694. Guarini’s works are, in our opinion, the most visually compelling of all of the Baroque sites in Turin. Both are discussed in detail in our Approach Guide to Italy: Italian Baroque.
4. From here we suggest you take Via Garibaldi and follow it to Piazza Statuto. A number of the gems of the Piedmontese Baroque await you along this street (and on nearby side streets): la Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi designed by Vittone and Mario Ludovico Quarini; la Chiesa di Santa Maria di Piazza (this is another highlight stop; discussed in detail in our Approach Guide to Italy: Italian Baroque), a work also by Vittone; la Chiesa del Carmine by Juvarra; and the Military Quarters (on via del Carmine, at the corner with corso Valdocco) built by Juvarra between 1716 and 1728 and later touched up by Ignazio Birago di Borgaro in 1768.

Recommended Travel Guide for Turin (Torino), Italy

The Italian Baroque

The emotionally charged Baroque style first emerged in Rome and then spread throughout the Italian peninsula, with each location bringing to the movement unique architectural elements and sculptural style. Whether you plan to visit Rome, Venice, Naples, Sicily, Torino or Puglia, this guide will draw you into the action as you visit each site.  Learn more about the Baroque sites of Torino and in the rest of Italy.

Download a FREE PREVIEW (4 of 34 pages)

Price $5 (Format: PDF; available for immediate download)

We were recently nominated to participate in Tripbase’s “3 Best Kept Travel Secrets” game by our travel friends, Dave and Deb, Canada’s Adventure Couple at The Planet D and Monica at A Pair of Panties and Boxers.

“The aim of this game is to unite travel bloggers in a joint endeavor – to create an amazing list of top travel recommendations across the globe to share with the entire online travel community.” – Katie from Tripbase.com.

So here are our Cultural Travel  Secrets:

China’s Spirit Roads: Jianling Tomb

A unique element of the Chinese funerary complex, is the “Spirit Road”, a line-up of statuary that leads to an imperial mausoleum. One of the most striking elements of the Spirit Roads (some which date back to 450 CE) is that they can be up to 1 kilometer long and comprised of hundreds of statues. There are several Spirit Road sites that can be visited easily by tourists, however, our favorite is found just North of X’ian and required a short hike to reach. The Spirit Road of the Jianling tomb, made for the Tang Emperor Suzong (reigned 756-762), is difficult to find given its position in the middle of terraced farmland, but worth it once you get there due to the fact that the figures are all partially covered in soil.  The Tang championed realism in all of their sculptural depictions; they are drawn from real life and reflect specific individuals, rather than general types.

Spirit Road Figure - Jianling Tomb (outside X'ian)

Cairo’s Northern Qarafa (cemetery)

Numerous emirs and sultans built there funerary complexes here in Cairo’s Northern Qarafa (cemetery). Our favorite is the funerary complex of Sultan Qaytbay (1472-74), which offers a supreme example of the sophisticated use of overlapping arabesques and geometric patterns to decorate dome exteriors.  This dome represents the high point of the Bahri Mamluke Dynasty’s (1250-1382) architectural legacy.  Our Approach Guide to Islamic Cairo offers additional information on this and other must-see sites in Islamic Cairo.

Dome of the Funerary Complex of Sultan Qaytbay (Cairo)

Sanfelice’s Baroque Staircase in Naples

18th century Neapolitan Rococo architecture is best illustrated in the work of Ferdinando Sanfelice (1675-1748), who is known for his striking staircases. We especially love the Palazzo della Spagnuolo. Via dei Virgini, 19.  Sanfelice’s stairway in this building is distinctive for its height, the large size of its perforations, and the movement of the design. This is a great example of how architecture of the Baroque keeps your eye in movement: notice in this picture how Sanfelice skillfully draws your gaze upward, giving the structure a lightness that would otherwise not exist. Our Approach Guide to Italy: The Italian Baroque offers travelers additional information on this and other architectural gems throughout Italy.

Palazzo della Spagnuolo (Naples)