Il Museo
Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortés
The Principe Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes Museum

The beautiful Villa Pignatelli is distinguished by its fine neo-Classical structure, admirably set in a context which also recalls the Pompeiian style.
It overlooks a luxurious garden, behind the seafront road, Via Caracciolo, and the Villa Comunale.
Sir Ferdinand Acton,  minister of King Ferdinand IV, bought the land on 2nd March 1826 from Lord William Drammond and called the Neapolitan architect  Pietro Valente to design the villa.
The villa, during the years, was property of aristocratic families: the Actons, the Rothschilds and the Pignatellis.
It was bought towards the end of the 19th century by the Aragona Pignatelli Cortes Princes; thanks to the Princess Rosina's taste, the villa become, in the first decennia of the 20th century, a place where met kings and aristocratic people from all over the world.
In 1952 Princess Rosina Pignantelli Fici donated the Villa, the garden, the furniture and the art collection to the State, on condition that nothing will be changed.
The Principe Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes Museum's collections, which take up part of the villa, include furniture, 18th century French clocks, porcelain from England, Vienna, Capodimonte, Venice and Sevres, Neapolitan bisquits, and some excellent Saxon pottery.
Also worthy of note is the Carriage Museum, housed in a pavillion in the gardens.
On display are a collection of carriages and accessories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The main role of the Museum is constituted by temporary exhibitions of modern and ancient art and in the covered veranda take place classical music concerts.