The Largest Urban Park in Italy

Capodimonte’s beautiful, hilltop Royal Park or Bosco spans 300 acres and contains over 400 species of plants and flowers, including the first ever Mandarin trees in Italy. The Park includes paths for jogging, picnic areas, fountains and spaces for dogs, as well as football, rugby, and cricket fields. For the locals of Naples the Royal Park is an oasis.

For history of the Bosco, please click here to consult the Capodimonte Website.

 

Map of the Park

Download a map of the Royal Park.

Opening Hours

Spring & Summer
7:00am – 6:00pm in March
7:00am – 7:30pm in April – September

Autumn
7:00am – 6:00pm in October
7:00am – 5:00pm in November

Winter
7:00am – 5:00pm in December & January
7:00am – 6:00pm in February


View of the restored interior of the Stufa dei fiori

Stufa dei Fiori - Tisaneria-Bistrot

Newly opened in May 2022, the Stufa dei Fiori - Tea House (Tisaneria) occupies the former Savoy-era greenhouse in the Palazzina dei Principi, just across from the Reggia. The café and bistro features a rotating menu of seasonal dishes made with local ingredients and paired with unique tea blends, local craft beers, natural wines, and cocktails. Visitors can enjoy comfortable seating inside the restored greenhouse or on the back patio surrounded by herbs and flowers, some of which have traditionally been grown in that space since at least the 19th century.

The Tisaneria was restored with great attention to the greenhouse’s historical characteristics. Traditional materials such as terracotta floors, Neapolitan riggiole (made of majolica and hand-painted ceramic) embellish the sales counter, and wicker panari evoke Neapolitan tradition and craft present. The particular shade of blue used for the walls was inspired by the historical use of Cyprus Vitriol, a chemical compound commonly used in greenhouses in the ninteenth and twentieth centuries for its fungicidal properties.

Opening Hours
8:00am – 10:00pm every day except Wednesdays
For updated menus and information about events, please click here to consult the website.


Church of San Gennaro

Opening Hours
The church is currently not open for visitors

Architect Santiago Calatrava’s decorative scheme for the Church of San Gennaro in the Real Bosco di Capodimonte, built in 1745 by architect and stage designer Ferdinando Sanfelice at the behest of Charles of Bourbon, is a tribute to the ‘light of Naples’ and local craftsmanship. Calatrava completely reinterprets the 18th-century space, from the stained glass windows to the ceiling decorated with porcelain stars, to the decorated niches and porcelain furnishings, and was inspired by the Bosco of Capodimonte. Calatrava produced exclusive designs for the entire chapel from its lighting to its decoration to its furnishings, donating every single preparatory drawing and artifact used in the project to the Museo e Real Bosco of Capodimonte.

Calatrava’s decorative intervention is conceived to be a “living work” because it uses the excellence of Campania’s artisanal production in weaving, porcelain, enameling and painting. He personally chose the workers, most of whom donated their work, from the Vito Avino engineering firm of Salerno to the San Leucio silks of the cavaliere del lavoro Annamaria Alois, to the master Perotti of Vietri sul Mare for the stained glass windows and tabernacles. The Modugno company donated the restoration of the ancient organ, soliciting the intervention of the Tamburini company of Crema. The restoration of the two bells was undertaken by Campana Merolla. Calatrava collaborated with the master ceramicists and students of the “Real Fabbrica di Capodimonte-Istituto Superiore ad Indirizzo Raro Caselli” under the direction of headmaster Valter Luca de Bartolomeis as part of the project “Caselli meets the artists: Santiago Calatrava.” Together they created all the porcelain decorations for the church in the place where, in 1743, Charles of Bourbon established his Porcelain Manufactory.