Piazza del Mercato

This guide to Piazza del Mercato in Naples moves between its two lives: the roaring Epiphany funfair that fills the square each January sixth, and the square's five centuries as the city's execution ground after Charles the First of Anjou moved the market here around 1270. It follows the beheading of the teenage king Conradin in 1268, the last public execution in 1800, and a fisherman named Masaniello who stood here in 1647 with a revolt in mind. Stand near the center of the square, where the carousel lights now cover ground that once held very different crowds.