The Totò exhibition opens in Naples, a journey through life and genius at the Royal Palace.

Naples pays homage to its most beloved son: Toto. From 31 October 2025 to 25 January 2026, Belvedere Hall of the Royal Palace of Naples will host the exhibition “Totò and his Naples”, an unprecedented exhibition itinerary that tells the story of the profound bond between Antonio de Curtis and the city that inspired his art, humor, and humanity. The initiative is part of the celebrations for the 2500 years since the foundation of Naples, with a tribute that intertwines history, theatre and Neapolitan identity.

A project that unites Naples and the world

The exhibition is promoted by Neapolis 2500 National Committee, In collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Royal Palace of Naples, Totò's heirs, Rai Teche e Luce Historical Archive. Curated by Alexander Nicosia e Marino Niola, and produced by COR Create Organize Realize, the exhibition represents the first stage of an international project which, in spring 2026, will also land in New York, broadening that cultural bridge that Totò symbolically built between Naples and the world.

According to curator Marino Niola, “Totò sums up the thousand identities of a Naples that becomes a universal theatreThe city loved him unconditionally because he reflected the collective soul of Partenope: ironic, tragic, noble and popular at the same time."

A journey through life, art and memory

The exhibition itinerary accompanies the visitor to discover the life and career of the Prince of laughter, Between original documents, photographs, films, costumes, posters, installations and testimoniesThe exhibition is divided into thematic sections that retrace the most significant phases of his artistic journey: The origins, the Sanità district, the theatre, the songs, the cinema, the poems, an irreplaceable master, Totò and the beauties of his Naples e Greetings from his Naples.

A special section is dedicated to the Prince of Byzantium, the noble and surreal character that Totò constructed as a symbolic mask of his poetics. Space also for his loves, with anecdotes and memories that reveal the artist's most human and melancholic side.

Totò and Naples: a timeless bond

Among the most touching moments of the journey, visitors will be able to listen to thefuneral oration delivered by Nino Taranto on April 17, 1967, when all of Naples stopped to greet its Prince. That audio, preserved in the historical archives, remains one of the most intense testimonies of the mutual love between Totò and the city.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog published by Gangemi Editore, which collects previously unpublished images, stories, and testimonies, providing a complete portrait of an artist who knew how to transform comedy into a universal language.

“Totò and his Naples” is more than an exhibition: it is a journey into the Neapolitan soul, in the genius of a man capable of describing the human condition through a smile.