The museum on the hill of Capodimonte, established in 1957, boasts a historical origin linked to the birth of the independent Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It was in 1734, when the Spanish viceroyalty ended, Charles III of Bourbon became King and Naples was catapulted into a political dimension which had a parallel importance to the cultural one already expressed in Europe for centuries.
In this scenario, the very rich Farnese collection, the dukes of Parma and Piacenza to whom Charles III belonged from his mother’s side, was transferred to Naples and, to house it, the king decided to build - entrusting the task to Giovanni Antonio Medrano - a new villa in a panoramic area, immersed in the woods and characterised by an orderly sequence of boardrooms and by a double-height exhibition gallery. The architect Ferdinando Sanfelice took care of the arrangement of the greenery and of the gardens and also designed the Casina delle Porcellane, into which the Real Fabbrica di Capodimonte (the Royal Factory of Capodimonte), in what would have become known everywhere as the Royal Factory of Capodimonte
Numerous changes have taken place until the viceroyalty of Murat, who rationalised the museum project, following the example of the Louvre and the British Museum, an idea which will then be completed after the return to the throne of Bourbons. With the Unification of Italy, the Savoia family enriched the gallery with new masterpieces. In 1880 the tapestries of the Royal factory and nativity animals by Neapolitan nativity artists joined Capodimonte. The most recent rearrangements have given again a prominence to the Farnese collections with the paintings by Bellini, Correggio, Parmigianino, Tiziano, Pieter Bruegel, which combine with the magnificence of the works by Masaccio, Caravaggio and many other masters. From a decorative art point of view, the porcelain boudoir of Maria Amalia of Saxony, Charles of Bourbons’ wife, is of considerable importance. It was transferred in 1866 from the Portici Royal Palace composed of over three thousand pieces.
Currently, the museum occupies the three floors of the palace. On the ground floor, there are all the services for the visitors as well as an auditorium, in the basement there are the teaching rooms, on the mezzanine floor the Mele collection and the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe (Cabinet of Drawings and Prints) with two thousand five hundred prints, with preparatory art works of extraordinary value. And then the Collection of the private nineteenth century, in the southern wing. And the rooms with the Neoclassical section and the works by the Neapolitan artists of Posillipo School.
On the first floor, there is the Farnese collection in the homonymous Gallery and the Borgia collection, acquired by the Bourbons. On the same floor, there is the Royal Appartment with the Gallery of the Porcelains, the De Ciccio collection and the Farnesina and Bourbon Armory.
On the second floor, the Neapolitan Gallery with works from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century are exhibited, (room 102 in entirely dedicated to Mattia Preti and room 103 to Luca Giordano) as well as the D’Avalos collection and the contemporary art collection.
IThe third floor houses the continuation of the contemporary art collection, the Gallery of the 19th century and the Photographic section.
Information
Opening hours: daily, excluding Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Full price ticket: 15€
Reduced ticket: 2€
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