The Royal Palace in Naples is hosting from Oct. 31, 2025 to Jan. 25, 2026 Totò and his Naples, an exhibition that explores the inseparable bond between Antonio de Curtis, known as Totò, and the city that saw his birth. The initiative is part of the celebrations for the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of Naples, known as Neapolis 2500, and is the first stage of a project that will continue in New York, bringing abroad a portrait of Neapolitan culture through one of its most famous performers. A press preview is scheduled for Oct. 30 at 4:30 p.m. in the Belvedere Room of the Royal Palace. The exhibition is promoted by the Neapolis 2500 National Committee, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Royal Palace of Naples, under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, with the participation of Totò Heirs. The project is curated by Alessandro Nicosia and Marino Niola, while the organization and production are entrusted to C.O.R. Creare Organizzare Realizzare.
“I remain a Neapolitan with all the virtues and defects of the Neapolitan. Every fifteen twenty days I return to Naples for a very short stay; I cannot stay away from my city any longer; the people there give me the warmth of life. And every time I am moved like a child,” said Totò.
Antonio de Curtis was born in Naples in 1898, in the Rione Sanità, and was universally recognized as The Prince of Laughter. His life and career have always maintained a constant relationship with the city, both as a cultural root and as an artistic horizon. Naples appears in Totò as a creative laboratory and mirror of a complex and universal identity. Through theater, cinema, poems and songs, Totò in fact combined the Neapolitan tradition with a form of comedy that combines language games, famous phrases and elements of nonsense, becoming a collective memory and shared cultural heritage.
The exhibition aims to document Totò’s Neapolitan-ness, characterized by a combination of fun, melancholy and cultural depth, illustrating his relationship with the city and his influence on the Italian and international art scene. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore cultural, professional and personal ties of the artist, bringing out previously unseen aspects of his life. The exhibition is also conceived as a tool of discovery and deepening for younger generations, offering an opportunity for new reading of Neapolitan history and identity through the figure of Totò.
Totò and his Naples is divided into thematic sections that trace the artist’s life and career: from his origins in the Rione Sanità, to the representation of the city in his works, to theater, cinema, poems, songs, testimonies and the final farewell of his Naples. Each section is enhanced by original materials, including documents, photographs, films, costumes, posters, playbills, newspapers and multimedia installations. Scenic reconstructions help restore the atmosphere of the works and environments Totò frequented, while the testimonies of those who knew him offer a direct perspective on his role in culture and collective memory. The exhibition is thus an opportunity to view Naples through the prism of Totò’s career, offering the public tools to reread the city and the artist in a multidimensional perspective. Historical documents, audiovisual materials and multimedia installations combine to outline a complex portrait, which goes beyond a simple anagraphic celebration to become a tool for cultural and social analysis. Attention to detail and historical contextualization makes it possible to detect often overlooked connections between Totò’s private life and artistic production, highlighting how the comedian was both mirror and engine of twentieth-century Naples.
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| Totò and Naples: an eternal bond at the Royal Palace of Naples for Neapolis 2500 |
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