With its unshakable rock walls grounded on a stable platform of concrete, fragile is the last trait one would associate with the Castel dell’Ovo. Yet the castle has retained the name bestowed upon it by Roman Poet Virgil as the Castle of the Egg. In rather oxymoronic fashion this was the site of almost 7 civilizations and as many rulers. Its soil has held up Greek villas, a Byzantine monastery, Norman ramparts and Spanish palazzos, the waves washing up its borders an epithet to the rise and fall of empires on its grounds. Each chapter of the castle’s past is poured out into the galleries of the Prehistoric Museum occupying the castle at present. While it might be a patchwork of additions from the 12th to 15th Century, vestigial ruins left from before, it is still the oldest of the castles in Naples.

Beyond a dizzying set of spiral stairs, in either Torre Maestra or Torre Normanna, you are hailed by the sight of the fabled Mount Vesuvius in all its earthen glory. The castle faces the bay of Naples from its perch in the Isle of Megaride. Swept away by the enchanting sights, it's rather astounding how the Castel dell’Ovo has resisted the test of time.