Naples Attractions

Venue: Parco Virgiliano    When: Daily

Visitors can pay homage to one of the greatest luminaries of Western literature at the tomb of Virgil in the Parco Virgiliano. The tomb from which the park derives its name is said to be the final resting place of the body of Virgil, composer of the Aeneid, the Roman empire's "national poet" and undisputed master of the metric arts.

Virgil was Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory in the Divina Commedia and the source of inspiration for countless later poets, including Ovid, Spenser and Milton. While he was the object of literary admiration and veneration already before his death, in the following centuries his name became associated with miraculous powers, his tomb the object of pilgrimages and pagan veneration. The poet himself was said to have created the cave with the fierce power of his intense gaze.

The tomb still sports a tripod burner originally dedicated to Apollo, bearing witness to the continued allure of hinted dark powers and bizarre mysteries. It is said that the Chiesa della Santa Maria di Piedigrotta was erected by the Church authorities to neutralise this pagan adoration and "Christianise" the site.

In the park you can also visit the tomb of the poet Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), whose body was transported to the site in 1939.