Palace of Capodimonte
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Established | 1757 |
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Location | Via Miano, 2 80131 Naples, Italy |
Coordinates | 40°52′01″N 14°15′02″E / 40.86700°N 14.250555°E |
Type | Art museum, Historic site |
Visitors | 193 055(2016) |
Website | Official website Museo di Capodimonte |
Coordinates: 40°52′01.22″N 14°15′01.92″E / 40.8670056°N 14.2505333°E
Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italian schools of painting, and some important ancient Roman sculptures. It is one of the largest museums in Italy.
The vast collection at the museum traces its origins back to 1738. During that year King Charles VII of Naples and Sicily (later Charles III, king of Spain) decided to build a hunting lodge on the Capodimonte hill, but then decided that he would instead build a grand palace, partly because his existing residence, the Palace of Portici, was too small to accommodate his court, and partly because he needed somewhere to house the fabulous Farnese art collection which he had inherited from his mother, Elisabetta Farnese, last descendant of the sovereign ducal family of Parma.