The Park of Capodimonte is the widest open space in Naples and it is on top of a small incline on north of the city. Inside the park there is the Royal Palace of Capodimonte, that houses one of the most important gallery in Italy with the paintings from the Farnese Collection, which counts among its masterpieces several works by first-class artists as Simone Martini, Masolino, Masaccio, Botticelli, Bellini, Raffaello, Tiziano, Lotto, Correggio, Parmigianino, i Carracci, Bruegel, El Greco, Guido Reni, Luca Giordano. Inside the Palace there is also the rich Gallery of Ottocento and the Collection of Ceramics and Porcelain from the Royal Factory of Capodimonte.

The Farnese Collection had been started at the beginning of 16th century by the Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who became Pope in 1534 assuming the name of Paolo III and transformed his family into a powerful political subject, that ruled also over the Duchy of Parma. The pieces were conserved at the Farnese Palace in Rome (nowadays it houses the French Embassy) inside the famous gallery painted by the Carracci brothers during the first years of 17th century. Fifty years later the Farnese family began to lose power in Rome and the collection was transfered to Parma, whose duchy passed as a dowry to the Bourbon family when Philip V King of Spain married Elizabeth (the last heir of the Farnese) in 1724, during the Spanish Succession War. His son Charles moved the collection to Naples when he gained that kingdom, after the brief Austrian dominion.

The construction of the Royal Palace of Capodimonte began in 1738 by will of Charles Bourbon, but it lasted long and was so complicated that twenty years later, when Charles moved to Madrid to be crowned as King of Spain, they had been completed only twelve halls, which already contained the most important pieces of the Collection and were visited by all the travellers of Grand Tour. The Royal Palace building finished only in the half of 19th century under Ferdinand II, when it was completed also the arrangement of the gardens and the woods.  [ More...]