Pianta della citta di Napoli, issued in 1868 by the Milanese cartographer Francesco Vallardi, captures the city at a pivotal moment—newly national yet indelibly Neapolitan. Vallardi’s reputation for precise urban mapping shows in the densely lettered street network, the careful delineation of churches and civic monuments, and the eloquent rendering of the shoreline curving along the Bay of Naples. The plan privileges the living city: quarters spill into one another, lanes narrow into vici, and grand thoroughfares push outward toward new connections. An extensive index anchors the composition, transforming the sheet into a navigable catalogue of parishes, theaters, palaces, and piazze, and revealing Naples as both a sacred landscape and a bustling, modernizing port.

The map excels at showing how Naples’ ancient core still structures daily life. The old Greco-Roman decumani run like spines across the center, with Via dei Tribunali—Decumano Maggiore—clearly marked and bound by a thicket of vici: Vico di Porta S. Gennaro, Vico S. Pietro a Majella, and Vico della Pietà among them. To the west, the Quartieri Spagnoli emerges in tight relief, its grid of climbs and cut-throughs—Vico Trinità degli Spagnoli, Vico Lungo del Gelso, Vico di Montecalvario—pressing against the elegant north–south artery of Via Toledo. The presence of both Via Toledo and Via Roma signals an era of shifting toponyms, while side streets like Vico S. Anna di Palazzo and the booksellers’ Largo dei Librai preserve a neighborhood-scale intimacy.

Along the waterfront, Vallardi stages Naples as a theater facing the sea. The coastal promenade and roads, including Via Caracciolo and the approaches of Via Comunale and Santa Lucia, frame the Villa Comunale gardens and guide the eye toward the port basins and the medieval mass of Castel Nuovo. Out on the promontory, Castel dell’Ovo anchors the maritime skyline, while the map’s graded slopes and staircase-streets—such as Salita Tredici—indicate the dramatic rise toward Sant’Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino. Eastward, the new linearity of Corso Garibaldi and the route “via e porta di Napoli” announce the city’s engagement with rail and regional trade, balancing picturesque shorelines with purposeful circulation.

Religious and cultural Naples is everywhere inscribed. The Duomo and the precincts around Porta San Gennaro punctuate the Decumano with processional gravity; great mendicant houses—Santa Chiara and San Domenico Maggiore—anchor monastic enclaves within the medieval weave. The conservatory at San Pietro a Majella, hinted at in nearby street names, testifies to the city’s musical preeminence, while the district of the Belle Arti signals the academic world taking root in the north of the old center. Toward the royal precinct, Via San Carlo and Via Santa Brigida converge upon Teatro di San Carlo, the Palazzo Reale, and Piazza del Plebiscito—monuments Vallardi numbers and keys with care, turning devotion, learning, and spectacle into a legible urban circuit.

Vallardi’s craft makes this an especially notable city map: a harmonization of natural amphitheater and human labyrinth. Fine linework differentiates boulevards from vici, terraces from escarpments, and civic from ecclesiastical space, while the comprehensive index invites scholarly cross-reference as much as practical wayfinding. The coexistence of names like Via Roma, Corso Garibaldi, and Via Giuseppe Mazzini with venerable lanes and cloisters registers post-unification impulses without effacing memory. As a portrait of Naples in 1868—royal capital turned national metropolis—it reveals a city negotiating modern throughput and historic density, sea-borne commerce and hilltop refuge, making it a rich primary source for historians and a captivating guide for the curious.

Streets and roads on this map

• Via Caracciolo
• Via Comunale
• Via San Carlo
• Via Santa Brigida
• Via Toledo
• Via Roma
• Vico degli Innamorati
• Vico Lungo del Gelso
• Vico S. Maria dell'Agnello
• Vico S. Anna di Palazzo
• Vico S. Giovanni Maggiore
• Vico S. Matteo
• Vico S. Pasquale
• Vico S. Pietro a Majella
• Vico della Pietà
• Vico delle Belle Arti
• Vico di Montecalvario
• Vico di Nocera
• Vico di Porta S. Gennaro
• Vico di San Giuliano
• Vico di San Giovanni
• Vico del Fossato
• Vico del Pozzo
• Vico della Pace
• Vico Trinità degli Spagnoli
• Vico, Salita Tredici
• Corso Garibaldi
• Largo dei Librai
• Via dei Tribunali
• Via e Porta di Napoli
• Via Giuseppe Mazzini

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Detailed streets and urban layout of Naples
• Notable landmarks and buildings, including churches
• The coastline and surrounding landscape
• Index of important locations and points of interest

Historical and design context

• Name of the map: Pianta della citta di Napoli
• Date created: 1868
• Mapmaker: Francesco Vallardi (mid-19th-century Italian cartographer known for detailed urban maps)
• Countries/Regions represented: Naples, Italy
• Design/style: detailed depiction of urban and natural features in a classic 19th-century cartographic style
• Key themes: urban design, natural geography, religious sites, and significant landmarks; highlights densely packed urban areas and the city–coastline relationship
• Historical significance: a record of 19th-century Naples reflecting its architectural, cultural, and religious identity

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

Please note: the labels on this map are hard to read if you order a map that is 16in (40cm) or smaller. The map is still very attractive, but if you would like to read the map easily, please buy a larger size.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.