Castel dell'Ovo

In the 1st century BC, the Roman patrician Lucius Licinius Lucullus built part of the magnificent villa, later called Castellum Lucullanum, on the site.

In 1191, Empress Constance of the Holy Roman Empire, daughter of Roger, was captured during her struggle with her nephew Tancred, King of Sicily for the crown of Sicily, and Sicilian Chancellor Matthew d'Ajello wrote to Tancred persuading him to lock her in the island Castel dell'Ovo to be better-guarded and secluded from people, and wrote to nobleman Aligerno Cottone in charge of defending Naples ordering him to "ut imperatricem in Castro Salvatoris ad mare benè custodiat" (properly guard the empress in "Castle of the Savior" (i. e. Castel dell'Ovo) in the sea).

In the short-lived Neapolitan Republic of 1799 the outbreak of clashes between the new regime's defenders and pro-Bourbon segments of the population led to the use of the artillery of the castle.

In the 19th century, a small settlement of fishermen had been established in the immediate eastern vicinity of the castle known as Borgo Marinaro, which today has been shaped in the marina and its restaurants.

Underwater archaeologists have discovered what appears to be a 2500-year-old harbor associated with the origins of the first Greek settlement of Paleopolis (which preceded the ancient city of Neapolis, now Naples) in the sea next to the castle.

Four tunnels, a 10-foot-wide street demonstrating furrows consistent with cart traffic, and a trench likely built as a defensive structure for soldiers were submerged immediately adjacent to the castle.