Museo di Capodimonte — Die Größte Barocke Kunstsammlung Italiens
The Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte (the 'Capodimonte Museum' — the national art museum in the Bourbon royal hunting palace on the hill of Capodimonte above Naples, the museum with the Farnese collection (the greatest private collection of paintings in the Italian Renaissance, including Titian's masterpiece 'Danae' (1544-46) and Michelangelo's 'Cartoon of the Three Soldiers') and the Bourbon royal collection of Neapolitan and European Baroque painting (including Caravaggio's 'Flagellation of Christ', Raphael, and Artemisia Gentileschi).
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Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte — Italy's Hidden National Gallery
The Museo di Capodimonte (Via Miano, Capodimonte hill, 1738 Bourbon royal palace converted to museum 1957, open Tuesday–Sunday, €12) is the largest art museum in southern Italy and one of the most undervisited major collections in Europe — the 47,000-piece collection (paintings, sculptures, drawings, applied arts) occupies 3 floors; the first floor (Farnese Collection: Titian's Danaë, Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man, Bruegel's Misanthrope, Caravaggio's Flagellation) is world-class by any measure.
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Caravaggio's Flagellation and Neapolitan Baroque
Caravaggio visited Naples twice (1606 and 1609) and his impact on Neapolitan painting was immediate and permanent — the Flagellation of Christ (1607, Capodimonte Museum) and the Seven Works of Mercy (1607, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Via dei Tribunali, still in situ) are the two key Neapolitan Caravaggios; Ribera, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Luca Giordano (the three great Neapolitan baroque painters) all took Caravaggio's dramatic lighting and realist figures as their starting point; the Pio Monte della Misericordia (€4 entry) is a required stop.
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The Real Bosco di Capodimonte — 134 Hectares of Royal Forest
The Royal Woodland of Capodimonte (134 hectares surrounding the palace, free entry, open daily) is Naples' most important public park — the English landscape garden (created by Ferdinand I, 1734) contains ancient oak, ilex, and cork oak specimens; the Capo di Monte porcelain factory (founded 1743 by Charles III, the factory that created the distinctive Capodimonte porcelain style with flower-encrusted figurines) was located within the park; the factory moved to Portici in 1759 when Charles III left for Spain.
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Pio Monte della Misericordia — Seven Works of Mercy in Situ
The Pio Monte della Misericordia (Via dei Tribunali 253, founded 1601 by seven Neapolitan noblemen for charitable works) commissioned Caravaggio's Seven Works of Mercy (1607) for the altar — this single painting depicts all 7 corporal works of mercy (feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the stranger, visiting the sick, visiting the imprisoned, burying the dead) simultaneously in a street scene of contemporary Naples; the painting has never left its original location; entry €6.
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Porcelain Workshop — Capodimonte Tradition Continues
The Capodimonte porcelain tradition (1743, established by Charles III using the same kaolin clay formula as Meissen) was so valued that Charles carried the factory workers to Spain when he left Naples in 1759 — the Real Fabbrica di Capodimonte's products (delicate flower-encrusted figurines, dinner services with overglaze botanical painting) became the signature luxury of Bourbon royal courts; the modern continuation of the tradition is by Molajoli and Nuccio manufacturing; shops on Via Vergini sell contemporary and vintage pieces.
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Catacombs of San Gennaro — Underground Christian Naples
The Catacombs of San Gennaro (Via Capodimonte 13, adjacent to the Madre del Buon Consiglio basilica, 2nd–5th century CE, guided tour only, €9) are the most extensive early Christian underground burial complex in southern Italy — the two-level catacomb (the upper gallery, 2nd century, with the oldest known icon of the Madonna with Child, 2nd century; the lower gallery, 4th century) received the remains of San Gennaro (the patron saint of Naples, martyred 305 CE) and subsequently became the principal pilgrimage site under the city.