Above: AFC members with Capodimonte director Eike Schmidt, De Young Museum director Thomas Campbell, and Italian Consulate General Sergio Strozzi, at the opening of the exhibition, “Art and War in the Renaissance: the Battle of Pavia Tapestries,” October 17, 2024.
Travel with the American Friends of Capodimonte
the bay of naples with vesuvius
About AFC Trips
The American Friends of Capodimonte organizes annual trips with privileged access to museum and other prominent cultural sites. Our tips to Naples typically include behind-the-scenes visits to the Capodimonte Museum, Neapolitan private collections, beautiful palazzi, verdant gardens, historic churches, and other cultural sights, guided by Museum Director Eike Schmidt, distinguished art historians, and scholars. The AFC trip to Naples is an extraordinary opportunity to experience the authentic yet all-too-overlooked heritage of this fascinating part of Italy.
The AFC also organizes trips to cities in the US and Europe related to Capodimonte’s traveling exhibitions. For more information on AFC travel, please contact americanfriendsofcapodimonte@gmail.com.
Upcoming 2025 Trip to Naples
The next AFC Trip to Naples is planned for September 2025. Highlights will include a day at the Capodimonte Museum with curators and conservators. We will be exploring the 14 new Porcelain galleries reimagined by legendary designer Federico Forquet and making a visit to the conservation lab where Director Schmidt has announced the restoration of several masterpieces including works by Niccolò di Tommaso, Cristoforo Scacco and Giovanni Antonio Bazzi “il Sodoma”. We have reserved opera tickets to see Tosca with Neapolitan soprano Anna Pirozzi. On September 19 we will be celebrating the Feast of San Gennaro, which dates back to the fourteenth century.
The trip is currently fully subscribed, please email us if you would like to be added to the waiting list.
Teatro San Carlo
Capodimonte director eike schmidt in the restoration lab
In October, the AFC attended the exhibition opening of Art and War in the Renaissance: The Battle of Pavia Tapestries at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. The curation of this exhibition was overseen by Capodimonte Director Emeritus Sylvain Bellenger. After the opening lecture and gallery preview, our travelers enjoyed a toast and dinner with Eike Schmidt, director of the Capodimonte Museum, and Thomas Campbell, director of the De Young Museum. The next morning, AFC fellow Emma C. de Jong and James Anno, curator at the Houston Museum of Fine arts and the ‘17-’19 AFC fellow, led a private tour through the exhibition. In honor of the opening, the San Francisco Italian Cultural Institute welcomed us for an evening reception. On our final day, we were guided through the Mary Cassatt at Work exhibition at the Legion of Honor by associate curator Dr. Isabella Lores-Chavez. In the afternoon we visited the Antinori Vineyard at Atlas Peak, Vaca Mountain Range, Napa. We were served a wonderful lunch and received a tour of their facilities, including the cave in which they mature their wines.
Capodimonte director sylvain bellenger led a private tour for afc travelers of the exhibition Naples à paris. Le louvre invite le musée di capodimonte on june 7, 2023 at the Louvre. photo credit: Colleen harvey.
2023 Trip to Paris
The AFC traveled to Paris in early June to celebrate the opening of the landmark exhibition Naples à Paris. Le Louvre invite le musée di Capodimonte (June 7, 2023 - January 8, 2024). Travelers enjoyed attending the after-hours vernissage — getting up close and personal with 70 masterworks from the Capodimonte collections hung in dialogue with important paintings from the Louvre — as well as a private tour of the exhibition with Capodimonte Director General Sylvain Bellenger.
An elegant cocktail at the Italian Embassy, a private reception at the US Ambassador’s Residence, and a private tour of the Pompidou Centre’s permanent collection with a farewell dinner at Restaurant Georges rounded out the AFC’s Parisian itinerary.
The AFC visited the American embassy in Paris to meet with Denise Campbell Bauer, US Ambassador to France.
2023 Trip to Washington, DC
AFC Travelers with exhibition curator renato miracco and director dorothy kosinski at the phillips collection in the exhibition An Italian Impressionism in paris: Giuseppe de nittis.
AFC Members enjoyed two days of private tours and Italian meals in the Nation’s Capital.
On January 14, Renato Miracco, curator of the exhibition An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Giuseppe De Nittis led a private tour at The Phillips Collection. The travelers were pleased to see two loans from Capodimonte, Farmhouse Near Naples and Crossin the Appennines, featured prominently in the exhibition. Lunch at Sette Osteria before the tour was an opportunity to break bread and travel back to Italy, at least gastronomically!
On January 15, AFC Board Member and Curator of Italian and Spanish Painting Gretchen Hirschauer led a private tour of the National Gallery of Art’s exhibition, Vittorio Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice. The tour was followed by lunch at Fiola Mare in Georgetown overlooking the Potomac River. While Washington certainly isn’t Naples, a morning seeing Italian masterworks followed by lunch on the water was an excellent way to tide one over until the next trip to Italy!
AFC travelers in front of the battle of pavia tapestries with director sylvain bellenger and afc fellow caroline paganussi
2022 Trip to Naples
After two years away, the AFC returned to Naples in September 2022. Travelers enjoyed an intimate visit to the Church of San Gennaro on the grounds of the Royal Palace recently refurbished by Santiago Calatrava and the magisterial Battle of Pavia tapestries with Director Sylvain Bellenger, as well as a visit to the Royal Palace of Caserta and the Catacombs of San Gennaro. A reception at the US Consulate in Naples and witnessing the Miracle of San Gennaro at the Naples Duomo on September 19 were just two more of unforgettable experiences the group enjoyed in bella Napoli!