Naples Museums: Archeological and Capodimonte Private Tour from Rome

Naples' National Archaeological Museum serves up one of the world’s finest collections of Graeco-Roman artefacts. Originally a cavalry barracks and later seat of the city’s university, the museum was established by the Bourbon king Charles VII in the late 18th century to house the antiquities he inherited from his mother, Elisabetta Farnese, as well as treasures looted from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Star exhibits include the celebrated Toro Farnese (Farnese Bull) sculpture and awe-inspiring mosaics from Pompeii's Casa del Fauno. The Farnese collection of colossal Greek and Roman sculptures features the Toro Farnese and a muscle-bound Ercole (Hercules). Sculpted in the early 3rd century AD and noted in the writings of Pliny the Elder, the Toro Farnese, probably a Roman copy of a Greek original, depicts the humiliating death of Dirce, Queen of Thebes. Carved from a single colossal block of marble, the sculpture was discovered in 1545 at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and was restored by Michelangelo, before eventually being shipped to Naples in 1788. Ercole was discovered in the same Roman excavations, albeit without his legs. Replacement pins were commissioned by Michelangelo and sculpted by Guglielmo della Porta. When the statue's original legs were found, the Farnese family decided not to have them fitted, but they were reinstated when the statue was gifted to the King of Naples. The mezzanine floor, home to an exquisite collection of mosaics, mostly from Pompeii. Of the series taken from the Casa del Fauno, it is La battaglia di Alessandro contro Dario (The Battle of Alexander against Darius) that really stands out. The best-known depiction of Alexander the Great, the 20-sq-metre mosaic was probably made by Alexandrian craftsmen working in Italy around the end of the 2nd century BC.

This place was originally an hunting area of the King Charles III and it became a royal residence for three dynasties: the Bourbons, the French kings Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat, and the House of Savoy after the Italian unification. The magnificent halls of the Palace like the Room of Cradle and the Ball Room are found side by side with more private rooms like the Pompeian Alcove. There are also family portraits, artistic and ornamental objects and luxury goods of Bourbon manufacture such as weapons, silks, tapestries and the famous porcelain of Capodimonte. The masterpiece of Neapolitan manufacture is the salon of Queen Maria Amalia, a boudoir where walls are entirely crafted out of polychrome porcelain between 1757-1759. From the very beginning the Palace was destined to host the Farnese Collection, a famous collection known since XVI century. Charles Bourbon inherited it from his mother Elisabeth. Over time, the Farnese collection was significantly expanded by acquisitions, works from churches and convents, bequests and donations as well as works of contemporary art donated by artists and gallerists. The halls are full of masterpieces of every Italian art school Tuscan, Venetian, Emilian, Neapolitan, Roman along with important works of foreign artists like Pieter Brueghel. Many of these works are world-known absolute masterpieces, for example Danaё by Titian, The Crucifixion by Masaccio, The Flagellation of Christ by Caravaggio and Vesuvius by Warhol.