Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/149

 NAPLES 141 for some time the seat of the academy of sci- ence. It is still called palazzo degli studii pub- ~blici, or simply studii. The name museo reale borbonico was given to it by Ferdinand IV. (I.), who, after its enlargement in 1790 for the pur- pose of receiving the royal collection of art, caused all the antiquities and pictures in the royal palaces of Portici and Capodimonte to be brought into it in 1820. After the annexation of Naples to the Italian kingdom it was named museo nazionale. It contains collections of ancient frescoes, mosaics, and mural inscrip- tions, Egyptian antiquities, ancient sculptures, inscriptions, bronzes, glasses, pottery, cinque- cento objects, papyri, gems, medals and coins, vases, paintings, and the national library. Among the ancient frescoes are more than 1,600 specimens found at Herculaneum and Pompeii. The collection of ancient sculpture contains the statues of the Roman emperors and a colossal bust of Julius Caesar. The " room of the papy- ri" includes more than 1,700 rolls of writings from Herculaneum, disfigured by the effects of the fire, of which about 500 have been success- fully unrolled. Several volumes of transcrip- tions from them have been published. The gallery of paintings was rearranged in 1866-'7. It contains 500 works, many of them master- pieces of the old painters ; while the Neapol- itan school can nowhere be studied so well as here. The best paintings are arranged in four rooms, apart from the main collections of the several schools, with some remarkable engra- vings, and drawings by the great masters. The private palaces of Naples are far inferior in architectural beauty to those of Florence and other cities of upper Italy, but almost all of them contain museums of works of art. The most beautiful private palace is the palazzo Gravina, in the strada di Monte Oliveto, built at the end of the 15th century by Ferdinando Orsini, duke of Gravina, after the design of Gabriele d'Agnolo ; it is now the property of the government, and used by the general post office and telegraph offices. The palazzo Pia- nura, near the church of San Paolo, was the residence of the poet Marini. The palazzo Santangelo is remarkable for its fine statuary and collection of coins and medals, illustra- tive of the numismatic history of the Two Sicilies. The palazzo Monticelli, a fine spe- cimen of the domestic architecture of the 15th century, was long the residence of the mineralogist Monticelli, whose collection of Vesuvian productions was purchased by the university and the British museum after his death. Naples abounds with fine villas, some of them commanding superb views on the bay. In its immediate environs are the grotta di Pozzuoli or di Posilippo, consisting of a tunnel about 2,250 ft. long and 21 ft. wide, excavated in the older volcanic tufa, and con- taining near the top of the entrance the celebrated Roman columbarium known as the tomb of Virgil. The environs abound with many other remarkable sights, interesting to the classical scholar, archaeologist, and natu- ralist, as well as to the admirers of the beauti- ful and picturesque in nature, the vicinity of Vesuvius and other volcanic localities present- ing scenes of matchless grandeur. The prin- cipal places of amusement are the theatres. The San Carlo, adjoining the royal palace, was long the largest Italian opera house in the world. It was designed, by order of Charles III., by Medrano, a Sicilian artist, built in the short space of eight months by Angelo Cara- sale, a Neapolitan architect, and opened in 1737. It was burned down in 1816, but re- built after seven months without altering the original form. It has six tiers of boxes of 32 each, and the pit accommodates more than 1,000 persons. The teatro del Fondo, in the strada Molo, is under the same manage- ment as the San Carlo, and is exclusively devoted to operas and ballets. The oldest theatre in Naples is the teatro de' Fiorentini, now the popular stage of the Italian drama. The opera buffa is represented chiefly in the teatro Nuovo. The teatro Partenope is a pop- ular theatre, in which farce and comedy are performed twice a day in the Neapolitan dia- lect. The theatre of San Carlino is the home of Pulcinello. The performances take place in the morning and evening in the Neapolitan dia- lect, and are attended by all classes of the pop- ulation. The scholars and savants, artists, jurists, medical men, and the higher middle and professional classes of Naples generally, constitute a very intelligent and refined so- ciety; and its men of science and scholars are celebrated in Italy for their devotion to their respective branches of study. The number of strangers is great at all times, but particular- ly during the winter, notwithstanding the fre- quently dangerous effect of the climate upon for- eign constitutions, especially upon consumptive patients. Naples has three ports: the Porto Piccolo, the last remains of the ancient port of Palseopolis, and now only suited to small craft ; the Porto Militare, a new harbor with a 'depth of water of five fathoms, bounded N. by the Porto Grande and S. by a mole which runs in a S. E. direction into the sea for a distance of 1,200 ft. ; and the Porto Grande, the principal port, but with only three or four fathoms in its deepest part, having suffered from the silting of the sand and shingle. Between the Porto Grande and Porto Piccolo is the imma- colatelle, with the offices of a branch of the board of health and the captain of the port. On the other side of the Porto Piccolo is the custom house. New docks are projected. The Mandracchio district, S. E. of the latter port, is inhabited by the dregs of the Neapolitan population. The principal imports of Naples are sugar, coffee, and other colonial produce ; coal, salted fish, cotton (the cultivation of which has of late enormously increased in the surrounding region), woollen, silk, and flax goods ; iron, tinware, and hardware. The chief exports are products of the surrounding