Naples represents an extraordinary heritage of art, tradition, religiosity, and millennia-old history. This mix gives life to a lively cultural scene, which also includes the city’s numerous museums. These are the 10 most beautiful museums in Naples not to be missed during a vacation in the city.
The 10 most beautiful museums in Naples
Naples, a city with a rich and complex cultural legacy, is the regional capital of Campania and one of the gems of the Mediterranean. With its deep roots in history, Naples offers an extraordinary heritage of art, history, and tradition. Naples expresses its culture through its cuisine, music, popular traditions, and its countless museums that preserve priceless treasures.
With one of the richest concentrations of cultural heritage in the world, the most beautiful museums in Naples tell millennia-old stories, from classical antiquity to contemporary art. Smaller galleries, churches housing real works of art, and historical sites dot the city in addition to the major museums. These spaces propose a continuous dialogue between Naples’ glorious past and its present. Here are now the 10 most beautiful museums in Naples.
MANN National Archaeological Museum
It is one of the most important archaeological museums in the world. Furthermore, with its 12,650 sq m of exhibition space, it is also the largest museum in Italy. MANN also holds the distinction of having the world’s largest collection of classical Greco-Roman art. Charles of Bourbon, the king of Naples, is associated with the oldest core of the collection. In fact, in the first half of the eighteenth century, he promoted numerous excavation campaigns in the Vesuvian cities, buried by the eruption of 79 A.D.
The exhibition path develops with three main sections. The Farnese Collection gathers all the archaeological findings collected by Pope Paul III Farnese, starting in the 16th century. The Pompeian Collections bring together the artifacts unearthed in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Boscoreale area. These include sculptures, mosaics, weapons, frescoes, and papyri. The Egyptian Collection was the first of its kind to appear in a European museum. It represents the second most important Egyptian collection after that of Turin and includes 18,000 artifacts.
Additionally, we offer the epigraphic collection, the numismatic collection, the topographic sector, and the Neapolis Station. The latter is free of charge and is located inside the Museo station of the Naples Metro. It displays archaeological finds found during the subway excavation works. The sixteenth-century Palazzo degli Studi houses MANN.
MANN National Archaeological Museum is located at Piazza Museo 18/19.
Civic Museum of Castel Nuovo
The Civic Museum of Castel Nuovo is located in the Maschio Angioino castle, where a lively cultural center also frequented by Giotto, Petrarch, and Boccaccio developed. The visit starts from the Palatine Chapel, which represents the only surviving part of the original core of the Angevin castle. Inside we have works by Giotto, fourteenth-century fresco cycles, sculptures from the Neapolitan Renaissance, and baroque silverware.
Next, we encounter the Armory Hall, and then, on the first floor, we can admire works from city churches, fifteenth-century paintings, and works from the Neapolitan school of the seventeenth century. The exhibition of nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings, as well as patriotic and Risorgimento sculptures, occupies the second floor.
The Civic Museum of Castel Nuovo is located at Via Vittorio Emanuele III.
Royal Palace Museum
The Royal Palace was the center of power in Naples and southern Italy for over three centuries. Today, the imposing building preserves a precious artistic and cultural heritage, including works of art, tapestries, furnishings, and clocks that constitute the museum’s collections.
The tour includes a visit to the historical apartment. The apartment comprises over 30 rooms, which include the Court Theater, the Throne Room, and the Royal Chapel. These rooms display precious furnishings and works of art from the Bourbon collection. Splendid tapestries from the Gobelins manufacture and the Royal Factory of Naples adorn the walls. The tour continues with a visit to the Courtyard of Honor, the Courtyard of Coaches, the Belvedere Courtyard, and the Hanging Garden, where one can admire a magnificent view of the Gulf of Naples. The ‘Gallery of Time’ honors the city’s history and is accessible from the Romantic Garden.
The Royal Palace Museum is located at Piazza del Plebiscito 1.
Museum of Capodimonte
Within the Capodimonte Palace, a hunting residence of the Bourbons, there are 124 galleries with one of the most important art collections in the world. The picture gallery displays paintings by Tiziano, Raffaello, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Botticelli, Goya, and many others. The collections of decorative arts, prints and drawings, tapestries, and royal furniture flank the porcelain collections from the Real Factory of Capodimonte.
The visit also includes the Royal Apartment. The Royal Wood, originally a hunting reserve, surrounds the palace complex. The complex encompasses avenues and 17 historic buildings, which include residences, small palaces, and churches, along with fountains, statues, vegetable gardens, and orchards. The main areas are the Landscape Garden, the Anglo-Chinese Garden, the Late Baroque Garden, and the Pastoral Landscape Garden.
The Museum of Capodimonte is located at Via Milano 2.
Sansevero Chapel Museum
Among the most beautiful museums in Naples, there is also the famous Sansevero Chapel. It serves as a mausoleum, an artistic showcase for renowned works, and a Masonic place brimming with symbols. In fact, all this reflects the eclectic personality of its patron, Raimondo di Sangro, seventh prince of Sansevero. The main attraction of the Sansevero Chapel Museum is the statue of the “Veiled Christ” by Giuseppe Sanmartino, famous worldwide.
Furthermore, the Sansevero Chapel boasts an extraordinary heritage of sculptures and paintings, frescoes, and pictorial cycles. The famous anatomical machines, two entirely skinned skeletons that depict the entire circulatory system, are located inside the chapel. According to legend, Raimondo di Sangro himself created them using a method that remains a mystery to this day.
Sansevero Chapel Museum is located at Via Francesco De Sanctis 19/21.
MUSA University Museum of Science and Arts
The most significant section of MUSA is the anatomy section. It represents a collection of incomparable historical and scientific value for the considerable number of anatomical preparations, period instruments, and wax models. Instead, the pharmacology section retraces the history of scientific research on medicines.
The collection of Stomatology illustrates everything related to dentistry, from its origins to the present day. The bibliographic collection includes volumes on anatomy and pharmacology. Finally, the artistic section displays a collection of contemporary art works.
MUSA University Museum of Science and Arts is located at Via Luciano Armanni 5.
National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa
Among the most beautiful museums in Naples is the National Railway Museum of the former Pietrarsa Workshops. Having pioneered the production of locomotives in Italy, the museum occupies the exact spot where the history of Italian railways began. In fact, they built the first section of railway in Italy between Naples and the locality of Portici, near Herculaneum.
The seven pavilions host vintage locomotives, engines, and passenger cars. Additionally, there are models, miniature models, antique machinery from the former workshop, and architecture designed in the liberty style. The first sector showcases the reconstruction of the first convoy of the Naples-Portici line. In the third pavilion, do not miss the Royal Train of 1929, made for the wedding of Umberto II of Savoy with Maria José of Belgium.
The National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa is located at Via Pietrarsa.
San Martino Museum
Just after Italy’s unification, the Certosa di San Martino in Vomero founded its museum. Indeed, its purpose was to gather relics and testimonies from the history and culture of Naples and the Southern Kingdoms. Access is through two cloisters of the fourteenth-century Certosa. On the first floor, we find the frescoes of the pharmacy, the naval section, and the room of the royal carriages. The nativity scene art room, the Museum of the Work of the Certosa, and the historical memories section of the Kingdom of Naples are also located on the first floor.
Instead, the second floor includes galleries with 950 paintings from the Posillipo painting school, the section of decorative arts, the theatrical section, and the section of prints and drawings. You can also admire three very ancient sundials. Their use allowed monks to respect the rule’s times.
The San Martino Museum is located at Largo San Martino 5.
Treasure Museum of San Gennaro
The Treasure Museum of San Gennaro is the most prestigious among the minor museums of the city. Indeed, its collection includes 21,000 precious objects. Among these appear jewels, statues, busts, fabrics, and devotional objects. From the fourteenth century to our days, kings, popes, and common people have donated paintings to this collection.
Of particular interest is the eighteenth-century miter of San Gennaro. Indeed, it comprises 3700 precious stones, primarily diamonds. Only on special occasions is the famous ampoule containing San Gennaro’s blood displayed.
The Treasure Museum of San Gennaro is located at Via Duomo 149.
Galleries of Italy
Among the most beautiful museums in Naples are the Galleries of Italy. The Palazzo del Banco di Napoli houses them. On 10,000 square meters, they exhibit a rich collection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings. Numerous works from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are on display, including Caravaggio‘s final painting, “Martyrdom of Saint Ursula,” which he created just weeks before his death. The Galleries of Italy also include the archaeological collection of Attic and Magna Graecia ceramics.
The Galleries of Italy are located at Via Toledo 177.
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The Tourist Information Office in Naples
The tourist information offices in Naples can be found:
- Via San Giuseppe dei Nudi, n°82
- Via Benedetto Croce, 19
- Piazza del Gesù Nuovo, 7
