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| Alternative names | OAC |
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| Observatory code | 044 |
| Location | Naples,Metropolitan City of Naples,Campania, Italy |
| Coordinates | 40°51′46″N14°15′18″E / 40.86286°N 14.25506°E /40.86286; 14.25506 |
| Altitude | 150 m (490 ft) |
| Established | November 4, 1812 (1812-11-04) |
| Website | www |
| Telescopes |
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  Location of Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte | |
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 Related media on Commons | |
TheAstronomical Observatory of Capodimonte (Italian:Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte) is the Neapolitan department ofIstituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (National Institute for Astrophysics, INAF), the most important Italian institution promoting, developing and conducting scientific research in the fields of astronomy, astrophysics, and space science.
TheAstronomicalObservatory is located inNaples, Italy, onCapodimonte hill, where the splendid panorama of the city andbay of Naples fromVesuvius toCastel Sant'Elmo passing throughSorrento andCapri can be admired.The Observatory is engaged in several relevant international projects and researches, such asSolar Orbiter andExoMars missions, gravitational waves studies, and observational instruments development forE-ELT, the next generation huge telescope.
The Astronomical Observatory is the oldest scientific institution in Naples, and plays also an important role to promote and disseminate the scientific culture and the astronomical knowledge in the society. For this purpose it houses some outreach facilities like aplanetarium and a 40-cm telescope, and owns an important collection of ancient astronomical instruments exhibited in the MuSA-Museum of Astronomical Instruments, and a rare and valuable old books preserved in the Ancient library.
The Astronomical Observatory of Naples was established byJoseph Bonaparte with a decree dated 29 January 1807 in the ancient monastery of San Gaudioso on the Caponapoli hill. The astronomerGiuseppe Cassella was the first director of the Neapolitan specola. WhenJoachim Murat was appointed king of Naples, he approved 8 March 1812 the foundation of a new Observatory on the Miradois hill, a site not far from theroyal palace of Capodimonte. The astronomerFederigo Zuccari[1] and the architectStefano Gasse conceived a monumental building in theneoclassical style, the first to be designed in the capital of theKingdom of Naples. On 4 November 1812 the foundation stone of the new observatory was laid with a solemn ceremony presided over by Interior MinisterGiuseppe Zurlo. Defined by the astronomerFranz Xaver von Zach "The Vesuvius of Astronomy erupting gold",[2] the new observatory was equipped with a most advanced collection of new telescopes, like theFraunhofer equatorialtelescope with anobjective of 17.5 cm, the biggest one ever made until that time, and tworepeating circle realised by the Reichenbach & Utzschneider Company inMunich.[3]
In 1812 Zuccari established also an astronomical library in the san Gaudioso observatory. In four years the collection grew from 195 to 620 books. Zuccari acquired some of these books from theBerlin astronomerJohann Elert Bode, the secretary of Neapolitan embassy inVienna Severo Gargani, and the Paris booksellers of the King of the Two Sicilies, Borel and Pichard.[4]
In the middle of 1815,Ferdinand I of Bourbon was back to being the king of Naples and he called in the capital the astronomerGiuseppe Piazzi to supervise the conclusion of building works with the help ofPietro Bianchi [it], the architect ofBasilica of San francesco di Paola. The new observatory was completed in the autumn of 1819. The astronomerCarlo Brioschi made the first observation from the Observatory est dome in the night of 17 December 1819 observing the starα Cassiopeia.[5]
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