One of the most important decorative art collections in Italy
Royal Bourbon residence and treasure trove of a genuine wealth of decorative art, the Duca di Martina Museum at Villa Floridiana brings together art, history and nature thanks to is architectural expressions, to offer a sophisticated, elegant and astonishing experience.
History of the villa
In existence in the first half of the XVIII century, at the start of the nineteenth century, the magnificent estate on the hills of Vomero belonged to the heirs of Cristoforo Saliceti, Minister of Police during the reign of Gioacchino Murat. In 1817, following the Bourbon restoration work, the estate was sold to King Ferdinando di Borbone who, having re-gained his reign over the Two Sicilies in 1815, intended to use it as a summer residence for his new wife, Lucia Migliaccio, duchess of Floridia.
The restoration work inside the structure was entrusted to the architect Antonio Niccolini who re-modelled it in neoclassic style with the addition of an English garden, an open-air theatre, Ionian order temple and lastly conservatories and grottos for exotic animals. When the duchess died in 1826, her heirs carried out a number of structural transformations to the park and buildings, until 1919, when the Villa was purchased by the Italian State and turned into a museum.
Heritage
From 1927, the Duca di Martina Museum at Villa Floridiana was home to one of the most important decorative art collections that included more than six thousand Oriental and Western works dating from the XII century to the XIX century. The collection was accumulated throughout the second half of the nineteenth century by Placido de Sangro, Duke of Martina and subsequently bequeathed to the city of Naples by his heirs. The Museum extends across three floors.
The ground floor houses paintings, turtle shells, enamels, ivories, furniture, chests, ornaments, Renaissance and Baroque majolica, coral and bronze from the Medieval and Renaissance times, glass and crystal from the XV-XVIII centuries.
On the first floor, we find the main part of the collection: European porcelain from the XVIII century, including samples from the most important manufacturers of the eighteenth century like Meissen, Doccia, Napoli and Capodimonte, as well as French, German and English porcelain.
Lastly, in the basement, the section on oriental art was recently set up including a considerable collection of Kakiemon and Imari Japanese porcelain and Chinese porcelain from the Ming (1368-1644) Qing (1644-1911) era.
