Giardino Torre (by Delizie Reali)

A fantastic gem immersed in the magnificent Bosco di Capodimonte. An absolute must if you’re after a non so touristy experience in Naples.

If you ask a Neapolitan where to spend a slow, beautiful Sunday, very few will mention Giardino Torre. Which is exactly why you should go.

Tucked into the northeastern corner of the Royal Park of Capodimonte, this botanical garden and 18th-century estate is one of those places that feels like a secret — even if it's been here for centuries. Originally the royal orchard of the Bourbon monarchy, it was designed as a living laboratory of plant experiments: citrus fruits, pineapples, exotic species, all destined for the court's table. Today, after a careful restoration, it's been brought back to life with about 600 plants — orange, mandarin, chinotto, bergamot trees, along with currants, raspberries, and a jaw-dropping 20-metre Camphor tree declared a monumental tree of Italy in 2021.

The first Pizza Margherita

Here's a fun fact to drop at dinner: it's said that the very first Margherita pizza was baked in this garden's 19th-century oven, in 1889, for Queen Margherita of Savoy. The original oven still stands — now used for special events — while a new wood-fired one fires up every weekend for the garden's pizzeria. And yes, the pizza is excellent. Genuinely, seriously excellent.

Inside the Casamento Torre, the café-bistro takes a farm-to-table approach that doesn't feel like a marketing tagline here — it actually means something. Breakfasts, snacks, and lunches are built around seasonal produce from the gardens and local artisans, with dishes rooted in Neapolitan and Bourbon culinary tradition. Think Ferdinand II's Maccheroncelli, guinea fowl with oranges, and other recipes curated by chef Giovanni Serritelli, president of Slow Food Naples. It's the kind of food that makes you feel like you're eating history.

Beyond the food, the garden has a genuinely lovely educational programme — workshops for kids, botanical notebooks, guided tours on the first Sunday of each month, and cultural events scattered throughout the year. If you happen to visit on one of those days, consider it a bonus.