The Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli (Naples Academy of Fine Arts) is a university-level

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. In the past it has been known as the Reale Istituto di Belle Arti and the Reale Accademia di Belle Arti. Founded by King

Charles VII of Naples Charles III (; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain in the years 1759 to 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII; and King of Sicily, as Charles III (or V) (1735� ...

in 1752, it is one of the oldest art schools in Italy, and offers various levels of study up to and including the equivalent of an Italian

laurea In Italy, the ''laurea'' is the main post-secondary academic degree. The name originally referred literally to the laurel wreath, since ancient times a sign of honor and now worn by Italian students right after their official graduation ceremo ...

(the country's main post-secondary academic degree). It is located one block south of the church of

Santa Maria di Costantinopoli The Church of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli is a 16th-century Roman Catholic church located on the street of the same name in Naples, Italy, and located a block north of the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples. History Its name is allied to the cult ...

, on the via of the latter church's name.

History

The academy was founded in 1752 by

and had its origins in two schools, the Accademia del Disegno (Academy of Drawing) and the Accademia del Nudo (Academy of the

Nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and no ...

). It was originally housed in buildings attached to the church of San Carlo alle Mortelle. For many years its administration remained under the control of the Reale Laboratorio delle Pietre Dure (Royal

Gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

Laboratory) and the Reale Fabbrica degli Arazzi (Royal

Tapestry Tapestry is a form of Textile arts, textile art which was traditionally Weaving, woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical piece ...

Factory). Under

Joseph Napoleon Joseph Bonaparte (born Giuseppe di Buonaparte, ; ; ; 7 January 176828 July 1844) was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), an ...

King of Naples The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first Sicilian Vespers, separation from the Kingdom of Sicily to its merger with the same into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Kingdom of Naples (1282–1501) House of Anjou ...

from 1806 to June 1808, it was given the name ''Reale Accademia di Belle Arti''. Reforms in 1822 resulted in a name change to the ''Reale Istituto di Belle Arti'', a name it would retain until 1923, when the Gentile reform of the Italian educational system, restored it to ''Reale Accademia di Belle Arti''. With the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century Political movement, political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, annexation of List of historic states of ...

in 1861, the school was reconstituted with its own administration led by its principal professors and subject to the Ministry of Public Education. In the mid-1860s, after a period in the Palazzo degli Studi (formerly the seat of the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II (; , ) is a public university, public research university in Naples, Campania, Italy. Established in 1224 and named after its founder, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, it is the oldest public, s ...

and now the

Naples National Archaeological Museum The National Archaeological Museum of Naples (, ) is an important Italian archaeological museum. Its collection includes works from Greek, Roman and Renaissance times, and especially Roman artifacts from the nearby Pompeii, Stabiae and Hercu ...

), the academy moved to its present site, a large building on the Via Santa Maria di Costantinopoli designed in the

neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style by

Enrico Alvino Enrico Alvino (1809–1872) was an Italian architect and urban designer, particularly active in Naples in the mid-19th century. He was born in Milan, and died in Rome. Works Among his important works in Naples are: *façade of the church of San ...

. It had been converted from an 18th-century convent attached to the church of San Giovanni Battista delle Monache and was part of a large-scale urban development project led by Alvino and Francesco Saponieri (later Director of the Accademia di Belle Arti). The academy's school of architecture, highly active in the 19th century, was transferred to the University of Naples in 1935. The academy closed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and from 1943 until the end of the war, its building was occupied by Allied troops. After the abolition of the monarchy in Italy in 1946, the ''Reale'' (Royal) was dropped from its name. In 1999 following national educational reforms, the academy (along with most other fine art academies and music conservatories in Italy), was recognized as part of the university sector with their highest level diplomas equivalent to the Italian

. The academy elected its first woman Director, the art historian Giovanna Cassese, in 2007. She was succeeded in that post by another art historian, Aurora Spinosa, who was appointed in October 2013. Spinosa is the daughter of the painter

Domenico Spinosa Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian ar ...

(1916-2007) and also serves as curator of the academy's museum, the Galleria dell'Accademia di Belle Arti.

Alumni

Salvatore Albano Salvatore Albano (May 29, 1841 – October 13, 1893) was an Italian sculptor. He was born in Oppido Mamertina in Calabria, southern Italy, to parents of limited means. He began in Calabria as a sculptor of wooden Presepi or Nativity scenes. Be ...

Francesco Saverio Altamura Francesco Saverio Altamura (5 August 1822 – 5 January 1897) was an Italian painter, known for Romantic style canvases depicting mainly historical events. Biography left, ''Medieval Marriage: Marriage of Buondelmonte'' He was born in Foggia, ...

Giovanni Battista Amendola Giovanni Battista Amendola (1848–1887) was an Italian sculptor from Sarno, Italy. Life He studied in Naples at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli, Academy of Fine Arts. Much of his work is to be seen in Naples, including a statue of Joach ...

Giovanni Di Giorgio Giovanni Di Giorgio (April 29, 1914 - August 8, 1992) was an Italian painter, mainly of genre subjects in oil and acquaforte. After studying at the Liceo artistico, he enrolled at the Institute of Fine Arts of Naples, under Pietro Barillà, Al ...

Guiscardo Améndola Guiscardo Améndola (1906–1972) was a Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bor ...

Jorit Jorit Ciro Cerullo (born 24 November 1990), known mononymously as Jorit, is an Italian street artist. He is known for painting murals depicting faces of people with red streaks on their cheeks. Childhood and education Jorit was born in Quart ...

, an alumnus, was nominated by Michelina Manzillo and the University Rector Renato Lori to the

Wolf Prize The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for "achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of natio ...

2023 for the arts category.

Academic organization

The academy is organized into three departments: *''Arti visive'' (visual arts) runs the programs in painting, sculpture, decorative arts, fine art graphics, and illustration. *''Progettazione artistica per l'impresa'' (commercial arts) runs the programs in theatre and film

scenography Scenography is the practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography can be defined as the combination of technological and material stagecrafts to represent, enact, and produce a sense of plac ...

, graphic design for public media, photography, fashion design, costume design, and textile design. The department also incorporates the Scuola di Restauro, founded in 2000, which trains students in art

conservation and restoration The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property, cultural property (tangible cultural heritage), including Collection (artwork), artworks, Architectural conservation, architecture, archae ...

. *''Didattica dell'arte'' (art pedagogy) trains students with previous diplomas in one or more of the fine arts for careers as art teachers. The Scuola Libera del Nudo ("free school of the nude") of the academy is open also to those who are not enrolled as full-time students and specialises in teaching techniques for drawing and painting

nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and no ...

s.Cassese p. 189Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli
Departimenti
Retrieved 28 January 2014

Museum

The academy's museum, the Galleria dell'Accademia di Belle Arti, is housed in the main building of the academy and is open to the public. It began as a collection of paintings, drawings, and sculptures acquired for students to observe and study before beginning work on live models. In 1891

Filippo Palizzi Filippo Palizzi (16 June 1818, Vasto – 11 September 1899, Naples) was an Italian painter, known for his rural genre scenes with animals, mostly goats. His brothers, Francesco Paolo, Giuseppe and Nicola, also became painters. Biography He was ...

, who was the president of the academy at the time, proposed housing the collection in a permanent public gallery and building it up to include contemporary art. Palizzi himself donated a large number of his own works and those by his brothers,

Giuseppe Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Josephus, Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. The feminine form of the name is Giuseppa or Giuseppina (given name), Giuseppina. People wit ...

, Nicolas, and Francesco, as well as works by French artists which they had collected. The gallery was not completed until 1916. However, it was forced to close shortly thereafter due to problems of humidity and inadequate skylights. It re-opened in 1929, but was again closed during World War II when the collections were dispersed and put in storage. It did not re-open until 1959. Further structural problems with the gallery forced its closure in the 1970s for urgent repair work. The collections were again dispersed for safe-keeping, and some of the works stored in the academy were lost in a serious theft in 1984. The gallery finally re-opened in 2005. The works on display range from the 17th to the mid-20th century. The oldest painting is by

Jusepe de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (; baptised 17 February 1591 – 3 November 1652) was a Spanish painter and Printmaking, printmaker. Ribera, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artist ...

(1591 – 1652), but the museum is particularly noted for its collection of 19th-century works including those from the

School of Posillipo The School of Posillipo refers to a loose group of landscape painters, based in the waterfront Posillipo neighborhood of Naples, Italy. While some among them became academicians, it was not a formal school or association. In the 18th century, lands ...

, many of whose artists had been students and professors at the academy. In 2007, the museum's ''Gipsoteca'', a collection of

plaster cast A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a pregnant belly, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – ...

s of important sculptures, like ''The Thoughtful girl'' ("Bimba pensosa") by Giovanni De Martino and

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s, was opened to the public. It contains over 70 pieces displayed thematically in four rooms.

References

*Bruno, Nick (2009)
''Frommer's The Amalfi Coast & Bay of Naples With Your Family''
John Wiley & Sons. *Cassese, Giovanna (2013)
''Accademie patrimoni di belle arti''
Gangemi Editore. *De Fusco, Renato (2004)
''Facciamo finta che: cronistoria architettonica e urbanistica di Napoli in scritti critici e polemici dagli anni '50 al 2000''
Liguori Editore. *Iannitto, Maria Teresa (1990)
''Guida agli archivi per la storia contemporanea regionale: Napoli''
Guida Editori.

External links