The three streets of Naples were built during the Greek era (6th century BC) and today they form the ancient center of the city: the Decumani.
The term decumano is actually incorrect. In fact the term is normally used for urbanization systems from Roman times. “Neapolis”, on the other hand, was founded as a Greek colony.
The Decumani: the three main roads of historic center of Naples
Urban planning of the Greek city
The Greek system provided for the subdivision of the urban center into three broad ones roads that ran parallel from east to west and parallel, in turn, to the coast.
In this way it was possible to obtain four zones. The three main streets were then cut perpendicularly by multiple small streets (about three meters long).
The road system of Naples
Today the layout streets of the ancient center of Naples has remained substantially identical to the original Greek structure. Of the three decumans, the central one is larger than the other two.
They are: the superior decumano, the major decumano and the lower decumano.
Superior Decumano
Along the way of this decumano important structures and walls from Roman and imperial times, as well as religious buildings (such as the church of St. Sophia) are well conserved.
Today it corresponds to via della Sapienza, via dell’Anticaglia and via Santi Apostoli.
Major decumano
This decumano is today one of the main streets of Naples. It hosts, in fact, many monuments and interest points.
It corresponds to today’s Via dei Tribunali and starts from Piazza Bellini and arrives to Castel Capuano.
At Piazza Miraglia the path was defaced at the end of the 18th century, for the construction of the old Polyclinic.
Lower decumano
Commonly called Spaccanapoli, this decumano is famous for its linearity. Its conformation has changed over time, but seen from above, such decumano continues to divide the ancient city into two parts: the north and the south one.
The fulcrum of the decumano is constituted by via San Biagio dei Librai, in the heart of the historical centre.
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