Once you have found a holiday rental in Naples and are exploring the lovely and historic city of Naples, you will find that there is an endless list of castles, architectural gems, cultural attractions and tourist sights to visit. However, one of the most fascinating and beautiful among all of these has to be the Coral Jewellery Museum. Lovers of jewellery, design and shiny things will, of course, find plenty to interest them but the collection is lovely enough to keep anyone intrigued.
Naples has long been known for her exceptional jewellers, artisans and carvers. Italy is the cameo capital of the world and, as a coastal city, Naples is rich in coral jewels; its “red gold”. As a result, the Coral Jewellery Museum boasts some rather extraordinary pieces in its collection. Located near the Royal Palace of Naples, it is a private collection that displays more than 200 rare pieces made from coral that was largely sourced and worked in the Mediterranean area.
The museum was created more than forty years ago when Dr Antonino De Simone spotted antique coral necklaces and recognised the cut – a cut his family had produced exclusively for a North African market stretching back many generations – and decided to begin collecting coral jewellery from all over the world. The collection has grown over the years, reflecting De Simone's boundless interest in the objects, their histories and cultural settings.
As coral has always fascinated people due to its rich, colourful appearance and mysterious origins in the depths of the seas, it has been imbued with a rich tapestry of meanings and cultural ideas over the millennia and, as a result, the objects made from coral are not merely beautiful but incredibly interesting. Coral has had all sorts of symbolic meanings and each piece in the museum has a story to tell, a moment to remember from births to marriages, wishes for protection and much more besides.
Take some time away from busier tourists spots and beating Naples sun in the summer months to pop into this intriguing museum, you won't regret it.
The museum was created more than forty years ago when Dr Antonino De Simone spotted antique coral necklaces and recognised the cut – a cut his family had produced exclusively for a North African market stretching back many generations – and decided to begin collecting coral jewellery from all over the world. The collection has grown over the years, reflecting De Simone's boundless interest in the objects, their histories and cultural settings.
As coral has always fascinated people due to its rich, colourful appearance and mysterious origins in the depths of the seas, it has been imbued with a rich tapestry of meanings and cultural ideas over the millennia and, as a result, the objects made from coral are not merely beautiful but incredibly interesting. Coral has had all sorts of symbolic meanings and each piece in the museum has a story to tell, a moment to remember from births to marriages, wishes for protection and much more besides.
Take some time away from busier tourists spots and beating Naples sun in the summer months to pop into this intriguing museum, you won't regret it.
Photo credits
picture 1: Bellezzedinapoli / CC BY-SA 3.0
picture 1: Bellezzedinapoli / CC BY-SA 3.0