Royal Palace Museum of Capodimonte - Tour with Guide

The National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples is located inside the Royal Palace of the same name, in the Capodimonte district and on 14,000 square meters and 124 galleries it houses one of the most important art galleries in Europe with galleries of ancient art, one of contemporary art and an apartment historic, more occasionally exhibits from around the world. The collections include works by the greatest names, from Titian to Raphael, from Michelangelo to Caravaggio, from Masaccio to Botticelli. Then again Mantegna, Rosso Fiorentino, Correggio, Parmigianino, Lotto, the Carracci brothers, Goya, Luca Giordano, Ribera, Artemisia Gentileschi and many others.

In itself the Reggia is a stupendous historical monument (it alone is already worth the ticket) which was the hillside residence and hunting reserve of the Kings of the Bourbon family. It was commissioned by Charles of Bourbon, son of Elizabeth and last descendant of the Farnese, to give worthy hospitality to the rich collection inherited from his mother and which was previously housed in the maternal palaces in Florence. Do not miss the Gallery of the beautiful Capodimonte Porcelain (envied and therefore copied all over the world) and the Porcelain sitting room.

A visit to the apartments of this Royal Palace allows a dive into the history of its protagonists from Charles of Bourbon who started the construction of the palace in 1738, to King Ferdinand IV who became king of Naples at just nine years old, passing through Ferdinand II who completed the of the palace, until the French decade when the palace, little inhabited by the Bourbon sovereigns, became a stable royal residence with the arrival of Carolina Bonaparte. Gioacchino Murat then built the road connecting with the city center and solved the problem of the water supply, and used the work of artists of the caliber of Antonio Canova for the plaster portrait of Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte. The building underwent a radical renovation starting from 1838 by Ferdinand II with the remaking of the decorations of the Ballroom and the 'Pompeian' bedroom of Francesco I and Maria Isabella, located in the southern wing and overlooks the sea of the Gulf of Naples.

The Royal Palace, in turn, is set within the Real Bosco (which can be visited) which covers an area of approximately 134 hectares with over 400 different plant species planted over the course of two centuries. Today it represents the largest green lung on the Gulf of Naples, but also one of the largest parks in Europe and one of the most interesting from a botanical point of view for the rare and exotic species it hosts, including camphor and camellias from Asia, magnolias and taxoda of the Americas and Australian eucalypts. The vast park was designed in 1734 by Ferdinando Sanfelice, who imagined two distinct sections in terms of style and function: the actual garden in the area around the Reggia, with large panoramic openings over the Gulf of Naples, and the hunting wood, scattered of statues, caves and buildings intended for different uses, such as the church, factories and farms.