Naples, controversy over neo-melodic video shot at Capodimonte in front of Caravaggio

A video of a Neapolitan neo-melodic singer filmed in the halls of the National Museum of Capodimonte has aroused the ire of some art historians. The clip in question is of the song Voglia by the young neo-melodic singer Andrea Sannino, a simple love song in which the musician sings about his desire, precisely, to be together with his beloved and make love to her. In the video, which can be reached on YouTube and has made more than 70,000 views in two days, Sannino is seen singing in front of Caravaggio’s Flagellation and wandering through the halls of the museum, while at the same time a girl does the same as she passes by the works in the Neapolitan museum.

In short, nothing particularly scandalous: of course the song and the musical genre may not be liked, but the video does not come across as offensive (at most one can argue about the choice of the works to emphasize the message of the song), there is no outrageous pose, nothing to cause outrage. Yet it is not enough not to raise a fuss. Two arguments in particular are brought by those who criticize the operation: the alleged poor quality of the proposal, and the commercial nature of the operation. On the first point art historian Nicola Spinosa expresses himself, intervening in the Corriere del Mezzogiorno: “Sannino singing in front of Caravaggio does not surprise me, it is just a new episode of a program already seen, from the Gemito exhibition worthy of the Rinascente to that of Luca Giordano, a solar painter sacrificed in an obscure setting. This time, then, having a neo-melodist sing in those rooms is absolutely useless: it doesn’t serve Sannino, who is already famous, and it certainly doesn’t serve Capodimonte. Contaminations are welcome; I myself hosted Neapolitan music in the courtyards, but certainly not in front of Caravaggio. Sannino’s video matches La Motta’s exhibition that opened a few days ago: I brought the greatest international contemporary artists to that museum, what does La Motta’s work have to do with it there?”

Tomaso Montanari also intervened in the same newspaper, recalling the Cultural Heritage Code: “property cannot be used for purposes incompatible with its historical and artistic character.” And again, “The ministry should intervene immediately if not the Prosecutor’s Office.” The Florentine art historian notes that “Caravaggio’s Flagellation belongs to the Fondo edifici di culto del ministero degli Interni and should be in San Domenico Maggiore. It was moved to the museum for security reasons and is a sacred subject. What awareness of this is there in those who shot the video and those who gave consent?” For Montanari it is a similar operation to the one that brought Chiara Ferragni to the Uffizi: “On the Ferragni issue there is no real data. But still, the point is another. Culture means liberation from induced needs, liberation from a horizon of pure consumption, instead operations like this one, without any connection to the works put on display, fully fall within a commercial exploitation that has nothing cultural about it.” Montanari concludes, “One should not say no to everything but set limits. And enforce them.”

However, there are also those who intervene in defense of the operation. Among them is art historian Fabrizio Federici, who writes, “It’s fine that we live in Polemiclandia and any pretext is good for raising fuss, but the fact that some people are crying scandal because the video of ”Voglia“ by Neapolitan neo-melodic singer Andrea Sannino was filmed in the halls of Capodimonte is unbelievable.” According to the Massese scholar, “it resurfaces that idea of the sacredness of museums and works of art that we would now gladly do without; and above all that never tame belief, from Stone Age peoples, that the image, fixed or, as in this case, in motion, ’steals’ the soul from the works, distorts them simply because it transports them, in a way that is entirely virtual and compatible with other, contemporary and infinite, uses, into contexts that are not deemed worthy (without it being clear who and how has the right to determine, from time to time, what is worthy and what is not).”

Also coming to Voglia ’s defense is popular radio host Gianni Simioli, who goes down hard with a post on his Facebook page: “You broke our cazxxo, I can’t find any other more sincere phrases this morning, with these divisive ideas that continue to leave alone the Naples of Neapolitans that are not you. And it is only your fault that we continue to reap ignorance, ugliness and crime of all kinds. Damn yourselves. Call on the Ministry to intervene, hurl your anathemas at anyone who dares to violate the gates behind which you are holed up. Andrea Sannino will do in 3 minutes what you have been unable to do in decades of authoritative and moribund cultural activity. Go brush up on the claim Procida Procida Capital of Culture 2022 chose to launch its fresh nomination: culture not Island. And Naples, my Naples, is not your island.”

The director of Capodimonte, Sylvain Bellenger, had no statement at the time, but the purpose of the video was to enhance the museum, which has a relatively low number of visitors in relation to its importance (just over 250,000 in 2019). And in this sense, the video also obtained the patronage of the City of Naples. In addition, with this video Sannino wanted to be a spokesperson for those calling for the reopening of museums, which are currently open only on weekdays and in yellow zone regions.

Naples, controversy over neo-melodic video shot at Capodimonte in front of Caravaggio

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