In Naples, in front of the Duomo, the Renaissance Palazzo Como hosts one of the most original and history-rich places in the city, the museum that houses the art and object collections of Gaetano Filangeri and his beautiful library.

Gaetano Filangieri Junior, 7th Prince of Satriano and 2nd Duke of Taormina (Naples, 8 February 1824 – Naples, 29 November 1892), was an Italian nobleman, art historian and art collector. Son of Carlo Filangieri, an illustrious military man, among the most prominent of the Neapolitan Kingdom, awarded the honorable title of Knight of the Order of San Gennaro, with a very close connection with the Treasure of San Gennaro, therefore, which is located right in front of the Museum, he was also very active in the cultural and political life of Naples.

The museum was built in 1882 for Gaetano’s will and he chose as its headquarters the fifteenth-century Palazzo Como, a rare example of Renaissance architecture in Naples, built as early as 1404 by the Como family of merchants which makes it stylistically close to the Florentine Strozzi and Medici palaces.

Here, all of a sudden, we come into view the imposing mass of a massive palace with rustic roughcast and a style that certainly brings to mind the characteristic palaces of Florence and Siena.

(Gustavo Fizzoni, art historian, 1879)

In 1504 the Palace was sold to the Dominican orders and, following the Napoleonic suppression of some religious orders in 1806, it first became a brewery, while other rooms were used as an archive for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and later, from 1823, it was again entrusted to the monastic orders until their new expulsion in 1867, when it then took on municipal purposes with its new use.

From the entrance, you immediately reach the Sala Carlo Filangieri divided into three bays, thanks to the large ribbed vaults made of gold-background mosaic entrusted to the Salviati Factory of Venice where sculptures, weapons, armors and ceramics are exhibited that tell of distant cultures such as the Oriental ones under the watchful eye of the bust of Carlo Filangieri, created by the sculptor Tito Angelini.

A staircase leads to the first floor where the Gallery is located, containing paintings from the 16th to the 19th century by great Italian and foreign artists, including: Heckart, Fuger, Giordano, Solimena, Vaccaro and de Ribera, characterized by a beautiful majolica floor on the bottom of which the Filangieri code and coat of arms are repeated.

A wooden staircase allows access to the suspended passage where there are display cases containing a refined collection of porcelain and biscuit of different origins, from Meissen to the Royal Factory of Capodimonte, from which you can reach the Library.

The Library offers visitors a direct point of contact with the intellectual legacy of the Filangieri with about eight thousand volumes, spaces embellished with family heirlooms and finely sculpted busts, the work of artists Tito Angelini and Nicola Renda, and a beautiful shelving and furniture in walnut wood and majolica decorations.

The Filangeri Museum is one of the most evocative places in Naples, where you can see a rich and cultured collection, a perfect photograph of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until the birth of the Kingdom of Italy.

The Secret

The Filangeri Museum was nicknamed the “Walking Palace” because the ancient facade was moved about twenty meters in 1880 to avoid being demolished following the works of the “Risanamento di Napoli” that were supposed to align it along the new artery of via Duomo. The reconstruction and restoration works were completely financed by Gaetano Filangieri Principe di Satriano and ended in 1888.

Useful Info

Museo Filangeri
Via Duomo 288
80138 Napoli
Tel. +39 081 203175

Entrance: 5 euro