Archaeological Museum of Naples

The Archaeological Museum of Naples hosts some of Italy’s greatest treasures. The building was selected by King Ferdinand I as the home for the huge collection of artifacts he inherited from his grandmother Elisabetta Farnese.

Discoveries from Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae were later added making this one of the finest Archaeological Museums in the world for the Greek and Roman antiquities.

The Museum is distributed over four floor: the basement holds the Egyptian collection with obelisks, busts, funerary statues imported in Italy during the Roman period.

The meandering ground floor houses the Farnese Bull and the Farnese Hercules, among the most famous classical sculptures of the Farnese collection.

Getting to the mezzanine you’ll be amazed by the mosaics of Pompeii like the imposing Battle of Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia once in the House of the Faun.

You’ll continue to the Secret Cabinet that houses a collection of Ancient erotic paintings found in Pompeii and Herculaneum reopened to the public in 2000.

The first floor is dedicated to the Villa dei Papyri of Herculaneum.

From the Hall of Meridian starts a section dedicated to the wall painting of Pompeii, Stabia and other small Roman towns buried by Vesuvius.

You’ll meet the guide at the entrance of the Archaeological Museum of Naples holding a board with your name on it.