entry
May 2003 update Dec 2015
Villa Pignatelli
The most striking building along
the Riviera di Chiaia, the road bounding the north
side of the Villa Comunale on the sea front
between Mergellina and Piazza Vittoria, is
certainly the Museo Principe di Aragona Pignatelli
Cortes, known to Neapolitans simply as Villa
Pignatelli.
In 1826, Ferdinand
Acton entrusted to Pietro Valente the task of building a
Greco-Roman style residence that would then, in the
English fashion of the day, be the centerpiece of a
park. The intention of Valenti and the owner was to
create a kind of Pompeian villa with the central atrium
moved to the front of the building where Doric columns
would then provide the only opening onto the gardens.
The magnificence of these columns still strikes the eye
of the casual passer-by today from the avenue fifty
yards away.
The property
has changed hands a few times since the construction
of the villa. It was bought in 1841 by Karl Meyer von
Rothschild of the German family of financiers; then in
1867 it came into the hands of the Duke of Monteleone,
Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, whose widow then
willed it to the Italian state in 1952. The villa
today has managed to preserve and maintain intact the
fine gardens in front of the building. The grounds
house a coach museum, a collection of French and
English vehicles from the eighteenth and nineteenth
century. It is also the site of numerous art shows.
Update Dec 2015
The Villa Pignatelli reopened on Saturday, Dec. 19th, after a six-month complete restoration, including sections that have been closed for a number of years. The results are impressive.
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