Castel Capuano

Castel Capuano in Naples holds a Norman-built fortress turned Renaissance law courts, its cellars once packed with prisoners below the judges' halls. The guide follows Antonio Serra, jailed here in 1613 for reasons still disputed, possibly tangled with a plot by the philosopher Tommaso Campanella against Spanish rule. With nothing but comparison and an idle wait, he set out to answer why Naples stayed poor while Venice grew rich. Stand on Via dei Tribunali and look up at the heavy facade, still marking courthouse duty into recent memory.