Castel Sant'Elmo

Together with the adjacent Certosa di San Martino, this forms an important group of buildings situated on the hill on which the quarter of Vomero has grown up.

Castel Sant'Elmo was also built on the orders of Charles of Anjou: its construction, in tuff, was begun in 1329 and completed in 1343 by the work of the architects Tino da Camaino, Atanasio Primario and Francesco di Vito.

The building, whose architectural features from a distance resemble those of the Castel dell'Ovo, was one of the city's fortifications and was used above all to protect it from invasions from the sea.

It was built where the Normans, in 1170, had a fort called Belforte surrounded by rich vegetation.