The Bonelli Collection in Naples, the museum with the largest collection in the world on the city

Not everyone knows that a Napoli there is one small reality, but very rich, born with the aim of making known to everyone, citizens and tourists, unknown and unpublished aspects of Naples that its founder defines "most noble".

We're talking about Bonelli collection, the "Museum of Naples", from 2017 finally recognized also at an institutional level and a real reality to visit. We say "finally" because it was for many that Gaetano Bonelli, its founder, worked hard to make his dream come true and for a few years he can say that he managed to create that "Museum of Naples" he so desired, managing to put together the the result of 40 years of research and passion.

But what is it?

The very rich collection on Naples

Gaetano Bonelli is a journalist and a passionate lover of Neapolitan history. He has been carrying on this passion for almost 40 years and his is the largest collection in the world dedicated to a single city.

Inside we can find:

curiosity;
memorabilia;
documents;
photo;
posters;
books;
books;
objects.

They are all elements united by a single common thread: Naples. An incredible result, this collection, obtained after decades of research and acquisitions that Bonelli never wanted to keep only for himself, but that he always wanted to show everyone by creating a real museum on the history and culture of Naples.

It is located in the Casa dello Scugnizzo foundation in Materdei and is a complete collection that ranges in all sectors relating to our city: Story, traditions, gastronomy, city planning, policy, transport, emigration, tourism and much more.

Documents on emigration in the Bonelli Collection (photo credit: Angelo Marra)

Sections of the Museum

The Bonelli Collection is divided into 20 thematic areas with over 10000 objects. They tell Some of the most exciting are those dedicated to photography andemigration. In fact, we can find there the tickets of migrants who left for abroad in search of fortune, the tickets of those who were homesick and wished to return and photographs of families from the beginning of the century.

In the section dedicated to policy, among the many documents, there is also a letter dated 8 September 1860 in which the arrival of Garibaldi in Naples the day before is narrated.

Also the area on the gastronomy it is very interesting: we can admire the first 4-tooth fork of King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. He wanted it to be able to eat more easily especially pasta and he was his court chamberlain, Gennaro Spadaccini, to add the fourth tooth.

In the section dedicated to religion there are many documents and testimonies. To give an example, thanks to the donation of the “Lazzarini Fund”, there are hundreds of documents on the Neapolitan archconfraternities ranging from the 700th century to the first half of the last century.

Not only that, among the thousands of objects that we can admire while walking in the Mueso, there are:

documents of the Teatro di San Carlo occupied by the British in 1944;
a toilet with a flush;
toys;
clothes from different eras;
even the genealogical tree of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies;
theatrical posters;
sculptures of San Gennaro;
notebooks;
hair;
bingo;
coins;
medals;
newspapers.

Bingo from the Bonelli Collection (photo credit: Angelo Marra)

The smallest photo in the world: it's Naples

A nice curiosity also concerns the presence of smallest photo in the world which even depicts our beloved Naples. This is a very small shot that represents the Oporto and which was taken in 1860, therefore when photography was taking its first steps.

According to Bonelli himself, this photo was probably used for espionage reasons:

We are at the dawn of photography, around 1860. Its Lilliputian dimensions suggest a “particular” use. At that time, in fact, the Kingdom of Naples was the object of particular attention by the European powers, especially England and France. Therefore it is likely, considering that the subject portrays some wooden sailing ships, with the arsenal in the background and at the bottom, the caption in French, "Military Port of Naples", its use for espionage purposes.