
A PIECE OF HEAVEN
An art treasure at the service of science. The historic Pharmacy of the Incurable has been like this since its foundation, an integral part of the complex which included originally the Hospital of Santa Maria del Popolo of the Incurable and the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, near the upper decumanus, in the heart of Naples.
The museum on the hill of Capodimonte, established in 1957, boasts a historical origin linked to the birth of the independent Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It was in 1734, when the Spanish viceroyalty ended, Charles III of Bourbon became King and Naples was catapulted into a political dimension which had a parallel importance to the cultural one already expressed in Europe for centuries.
In the central district of San Lorenzo, in Via Settembrini, the Museum of contemporary art, well-known with the acronym “Madre”, is identified with the historic Donnaregina Palace, edified in the 18th century on a section of the ancient city walls of the 5th and 6th centuries, which is visible in the ticket office area, with modifications dating back to the 19th century.
The museum on the hill of Capodimonte, established in 1957, boasts a historical origin linked to the birth of the independent Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. That site still completely devoid of buildings in the area of St. Carlo all'Arena, outside the walls, but incorporated into the city by the very northward movement of the walls wanted by don Pedro de Toledo.
Contemporary to the Padula one, the complex of the Charterhouse on the Vomero hill dominating the city is part of the context of Angevin religious patronage and shows the expansion of the Cartusians order into the Kingdom of Naples.