contact: Jeff Matthews

Many things are not what they used to be, but the building housing the Filangieri Civic Museum, on via Duomo, is not even where it used to be! It was built between 1464 and 1490 by Tuscan artisans for the wealthy Neapolitan merchant, Angelo Como, a favorite at the Aragonese court. The building is, thus, in the style of the Florentine Renaissance and is known as Palazzo Como. It was sold in 1587 and was incorporated into an adjacent monastery. 

In 1881-82, because of the  demolition and construction going on during the urban renewal of Naples (called, in Italian, the Risanamento—literally, ‘restoring to health’), it was necessary to dismantle the entire building stone by stone and move it back some 20 meters so that via Duomo could be widened.  Since that date, the building has housed the museum donated by Gaetano Filangieri, prince of Satriano (not to be confused with his grandfather of the same name—click here.) 

Though parts of the collection were destroyed in air raids in WW II, the museum still displays an impressive assortment of arms, porcelain and period costumes. Additionally, there is the recent addition of a large table-top scale wooden model of the city of Naples as it existed during the Spanish viceroyship. 

At this writing, the museum is closed for repairs as well as the construction going on for the via Duomo station of the new Naples Metropolitana. Many of the exhibits are temporarily on display in the Maschio Angioino.

Update: The museum was reopened in 2012

The Filangieri Museum also has an adjunct site, the premises and contents of the entire Villa Livia in the Chiaia section of Naples.

        to portal for architecture and urban planning        to top of this page