Not even the record number of tourists in Naples managed to revive the box office Capodimonte, penalized as is now known by the ongoing works which will contribute to making the structure even more prestigious. The museum is under maintenance and, inevitably, some rooms are empty or closed. Reason why a series of works have been temporarily loaned to other structures, above all the Louvre Paris. Among the traveling masterpieces «The Flagellation» by Caravaggio which, after the Louvre in Paris, has returned to Naples, but to the diocesan museum, and from June will leave again for Turinat the palace of Venaria, where the exhibition is underway “Naples in Turin”.
And where, just to match the title, over sixty masterpieces by famous authors have recently arrived from Capodimonte, including “Pope Paul III with his nephews Alessandro and Ottavio Farnese” by Titian, the “Crucifixion” by Masaccio, the «Annunciation» by Artemisia Gentileschi, and also representing contemporary art the very famous “Vesuvius” by Andy Warhol. Meanwhile, at the Scuderie del Quirinale, still departing from Naples, for the “Naples Nineteenth Century” exhibition, among others, “After the Flood” by Filippo Palizzi, “Iconoclasts” by Domenico Morelli, plus various canvases by Jacob Phlipp Hackert, Giacinto Giant, Anton Sminck van Pitloo.
But let’s go back to the afternoon visit on the first Saturday in April, kissed by an ideal temperature to encourage visitors. Which in fact crowd the meadows and the woods, with queues to access the new refreshment point located on the hill in front of the central building of the palace. The third floor, the one dedicated to contemporary art, is currently a construction site, affected by important renovation, energy efficiency and rearrangement works. «Our galleries are now all usable, some will close on a rotating basis, but Capodimonte is in business” Schmidt said this week, before going on leave. This is true up to a certain point given that the first level, the one which can be accessed during full hours, i.e. from 9.30 to 19.30, remains closed.
Tourists are enchanted by watching works such as “The Parable of the Blind” by Pieter Bruegel the Elderthe “Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese” by Raphael, “La pieta” by Annibale Carracci, unfortunately over fifty works are on the move: among these «Portrait of a young woman called “Antea”» by Parmigianino, «El soplom» by El Greco , «Danae» by Titian, “Atalanta and Hippomene” by Guido Reni. On the second floor, which for internal reasons closes at 4.30pm, in addition to Caravaggio’s masterpiece and Warhol’s star, “St. Jerome in the Study” by Colantonio, “Judith and Holofernes” by Gentileschi, the two “Apollo and Marsyas” and by Luca are missing Giordano and Ribera, whose “Drunk Silenus”, “Absalom’s Boarding School” and Mattia Preti’s “Baldassarre’s Boarding School” are also in Turin.
The Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, who participated last Friday in Naples in a conference at the Belforte institute, entitled “Cultural heritage: fruition and economic valorisation for the development of the territory”, moderated by the Mattino chief reporter Gerardo Ausiello, however wanted to underline that «Capodimonte has less visitors in recent weeks because there is work in progress and that in any case the museum, despite the construction sites, has not been closed but it was decided to leave it open. It remains one of the largest museums in the world.”
The minister then added that in any case between It will be fully usable again in 2025 and 2026: «And it will have a completely new look, photovoltaic panels instead of the current tiles and 90 percent of the energy will be self-produced». In view of the visitors of the future, and also of the shuttles that Mayor Gaetano Manfredi spoke about this week, Minister Sangiuliano underlined that “a large parking lot for buses must be created”.
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