Neapolitan theater in the 1800s: the National Library of Naples showcases its theater collections

From Dec. 22, the National Library of Naples “Vittorio Emanuele III” presents Naples on stage. Prologue: hosted in the Hall of the Lucchesi Palli Library, the exhibition created thanks to the National Library’s theater collections is dedicated to the production and practice of theater in Naples in the 19th century, its places and protagonists. It is an exhibition intended to be visually striking and very significant from an iconographic point of view, with images dedicated to the famous Antonio Petito and his company, along with playbills, documents, texts, and autographs that bring to life the pucinellate of the San Carlino Theater and the atmosphere of the golden season of the Fiorentini Theater under the management of impresario and head playwright Adamo Alberti. On that stage Scarpetta’s company and great artists such as Tessero, Novelli, Duse, Pezzana, up to, in more recent times, Galli, Ruggeri, Musco, Viviani, Petrolini, Abba performed.

These are materials of a varied bibliographic nature: scripts passed from hand to hand from one company to another, playbills and theater programs, engravings and photographs with portraits of actors, administrative papers (contracts between impresarios and the authors and performers, payment warrants, inventories). Documents that have survived thanks to librarians and archivists and the passion of collectors. It is thanks to these that it is possible to reconstruct, at least in part, the history of theater and entertainment in Naples, which not only describes the evolution of an art form and its various declinations, but is linked to the social, economic and cultural development of a society, its deep cultural and anthropological roots.

“In the mosaic of manuscript fonds, book collections, and iconographic materials that make up the impressive depository preserved on the shelves and in the deposits of the National Library of Naples, documents of interest to the performing arts constitute a relevant and organic part of it,” says the director of the National Library of Naples, Salvatore Buonomo. “This exhibition is the starting point of an exhibition itinerary that will continue in the spring with a display in the large Provincial Hall. It will be the turn of the important testimonies of the 20th century, including those of the De Muto, Viviani, Fiorito, and Patroni Griffi collections.”

The project is co-financed by the Campania Region, with funds from the Complementary Operational Program of Campania 2014-2020.

The exhibition is open until July 30, 2022, and is curated by Gennaro Alifuoco and Francesco Cotticelli with the collaboration of Cristina Del Fiacco and Patrizia Mottolese.

Admission with reservations required at this link.

Neapolitan theater in the 1800s: the National Library of Naples showcases its theater collections

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