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Canto Napoli: Emilio Isgrò's New Exhibition at Naples' Capodimonte Museum
Twenty-five erased scores of Neapolitan songs, from 'O sole mio to Voce 'e notte, fill three rooms at Capodimonte through 29 September 2026 — included in the standard museum ticket.
What is Canto Napoli, and why is it at Capodimonte?
Emilio Isgrò — born in Sicily in 1937, and one of Italian conceptual art's major figures since the 1960s — built his career on 'cancellatura': covering most of a printed text in black ink and leaving only a handful of words exposed, turning erasure itself into the artwork. Canto Napoli, curated by the museum's director Eike Schmidt, applies that method to the city's own songbook. It opened 10 April 2026 and runs through 29 September, installed in rooms 81, 83 and 84 on Capodimonte's second floor, among the museum's rotating contemporary-art spaces rather than its Renaissance and Baroque galleries downstairs.
It's a smaller, quieter show than a blockbuster loan exhibition — closer in scale to a single well-chosen room than a wing-spanning event — which makes it an easy add to a Capodimonte visit already built around the Farnese collection and Titian's Danaë, rather than a reason to travel up the hill on its own.
What's actually on display?
The core of the show is twenty-five historic sheet-music scores of Neapolitan songs — 'O sole mio and Voce 'e notte among them — each treated with Isgrò's black-ink erasure so that only selected words survive, turned into short, isolated phrases with their own weight. Alongside the scores sit three sculptural pieces: two mandolins and a classical guitar, reworked as three-dimensional objects rather than instruments to be played. A catalogue published by Treccani accompanies the exhibition, with essays situating the work inside both Isgrò's career and Naples' musical tradition.
It rewards visitors who already know a few of the songs by ear — spotting which words Isgrò chose to leave uncovered in 'O sole mio is a different experience than reading the score cold.
How do I visit — hours, tickets, and getting there?
Canto Napoli is included in the standard Capodimonte ticket — no add-on fee and no separate reservation. Full admission is €15, reduced to €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25. The museum is closed on Wednesdays; on other weekdays it opens 8:30–17:00 (last entry 16:30), extending to 8:30–19:30 (last entry 18:30) on weekends and holidays.
Capodimonte sits in its own royal park above the historic center, reachable by bus (lines C63 or R4 from Museo/Piazza Dante) or a fifteen-minute taxi from Spaccanapoli — worth combining with a slow walk through the surrounding Real Bosco gardens, since the exhibition itself takes under an hour. First reported by ANSA, with details confirmed on the museum's official site, capodimonte.cultura.gov.it.
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