Today we are dealing with a Neapolitan jewel that has been made visitable by the F.A.I. (Italian Environment Fund) in October 2015 in its Autumn Days; we are pleased to make it known, even if it is usually not open to visitors, because we always hope for a new extraordinary opening, given that the structure is accessible by wheelchair. We are talking about the Palazzo Saluzzo di Corigliano, better known today as Palazzo Corigliano. The building overlooks the magnificent Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, which we have already visited in the post on the historic center of Naples and which houses the Spire of San Domenico and the apse of the Church of San Domenico Maggiore.
Palazzo Corigliano is a building erected in the early 1500s; in 1732 it was purchased by Duke Agostino Saluzzo, of the Genoese family of the same name, who subsequently acquired the Calabrian fief of Corigliano from which the building takes its name. Today the building is one of the seats of the Oriental University Institute, which has allocated a large space to the Aula Magna that extends below the level of the courtyard and which is called Aula delle Mura Greche because in it there are remains of the Greek walls of Neapolis.
But the highlight of the visit is undoubtedly the Cabinet of the Duke. All in all, it is a rather small room, used as the duke's personal study, with the walls covered with mirrors and decorated in Rococo style by a group of Neapolitan artists led by Filippo Buonocore. The result has something phantasmagoric, perhaps excessive for some but certainly amazing for its richness and refinement. Let's leave the word to the images:
What do you think? Could you concentrate in a "study" with so many dazzling decorations? For the moment we only hope that we can visit it thanks to some other extraordinary opening that F.A.I. will organize in the hopefully near future.