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Never heard of Capodimonte? Neither had I until about 15 years ago. Then one day many years
ago, I received a postcard in the mail from some company who was selling artificial roses. The deal
was that if you paid $35.00 per month to this company, you would, in return, receive a different rose
in the mail every month. Well, I fell in love with the roses and decided to participate in this offer.
Unfortunately, around the 8th month, I became short of money, and was unable to receive the rest
of the year’s worth of roses.
The roses I had received were displayed in various places around my home.
One day, a new neighbor came into my home, spotted one of the roses and
asked me, “Is that Capodimonte?” I replied, “Huh? I don’t know”. The
neighbor examined the rose and said “Yes, that’s Capodimonte. It’s worth a lot of money”. Thus
began my interest in Capodimonte roses, but first, I had to find out what Capodimonte was!
When I began my research, there was little to be found about Capodimonte. There was not a lot of
information online, nor in my local library. Yet what I finally discovered led me to a desire to obtain
more and more Capodimonte.
Capodimonte porcelain began around the 1740’s when King Charles wanted to create a grade of
porcelain that was the finest grade of porcelain available. At that time, the Meissen porcelain
factory in Germany was producing the highest quality porcelain available. King Charles wanted to
not only create porcelain equal in quality to the Meissen factory, but create a finer grade of
porcelain. The King set aside some room in his Royal Palace in Italy for the experiments, but since
each experiment required a lot of space, he finally built a factory in the “Royal Wood of
Capodimonte”. Capodimonte simply means “The top of the hill”.
I’ll spare you the entire history, which is sometimes very dry and boring, and just give you the
highlights. When King Charles father died in 1759, Charles became the King of Spain. Charles
moved all porcelain operations to Spain, then destroying the porcelain factory in Italy. Later,
Charles son, Ferdinand, established a new Capodimonte porcelain factory. The quality was
extremely high and the porcelains were used only by Royal families because of the high cost of
production.
In 1798 the factory was looted and destroyed by the French invasion. Once again the factory was
rebuilt, only to be disrupted in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother Guiseppe. While the French
were reigning in Italy, the porcelain production was sold to a group of local businessmen.
Which brings us to today; A few local business men were able to keep the tradition of Capodimonte
alive, providing us now with this tradition. A few porcelain factories in Italy still create these
masterpieces which now include a variety of home décor items ranging from stunning candlesticks to
breathtaking chandeliers.
ago, I received a postcard in the mail from some company who was selling artificial roses. The deal
was that if you paid $35.00 per month to this company, you would, in return, receive a different rose
in the mail every month. Well, I fell in love with the roses and decided to participate in this offer.
Unfortunately, around the 8th month, I became short of money, and was unable to receive the rest
of the year’s worth of roses.
The roses I had received were displayed in various places around my home.
One day, a new neighbor came into my home, spotted one of the roses and
asked me, “Is that Capodimonte?” I replied, “Huh? I don’t know”. The
neighbor examined the rose and said “Yes, that’s Capodimonte. It’s worth a lot of money”. Thus
began my interest in Capodimonte roses, but first, I had to find out what Capodimonte was!
When I began my research, there was little to be found about Capodimonte. There was not a lot of
information online, nor in my local library. Yet what I finally discovered led me to a desire to obtain
more and more Capodimonte.
Capodimonte porcelain began around the 1740’s when King Charles wanted to create a grade of
porcelain that was the finest grade of porcelain available. At that time, the Meissen porcelain
factory in Germany was producing the highest quality porcelain available. King Charles wanted to
not only create porcelain equal in quality to the Meissen factory, but create a finer grade of
porcelain. The King set aside some room in his Royal Palace in Italy for the experiments, but since
each experiment required a lot of space, he finally built a factory in the “Royal Wood of
Capodimonte”. Capodimonte simply means “The top of the hill”.
I’ll spare you the entire history, which is sometimes very dry and boring, and just give you the
highlights. When King Charles father died in 1759, Charles became the King of Spain. Charles
moved all porcelain operations to Spain, then destroying the porcelain factory in Italy. Later,
Charles son, Ferdinand, established a new Capodimonte porcelain factory. The quality was
extremely high and the porcelains were used only by Royal families because of the high cost of
production.
In 1798 the factory was looted and destroyed by the French invasion. Once again the factory was
rebuilt, only to be disrupted in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother Guiseppe. While the French
were reigning in Italy, the porcelain production was sold to a group of local businessmen.
Which brings us to today; A few local business men were able to keep the tradition of Capodimonte
alive, providing us now with this tradition. A few porcelain factories in Italy still create these
masterpieces which now include a variety of home décor items ranging from stunning candlesticks to
breathtaking chandeliers.
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