The director of the Museum and the Royal Park of Capodimonte Sylvain Bellenger received the honour of “Commander of Merit of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George” from the Grand Master. The honour has been conferred last Friday, 7th of April 2023, by H.R.H. Prince Charles of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro, Grand Master and Chief of the Royal House, accompanied by the Grand Prefect and by the Delegate for Naples and Campania of the Order, Marquise Federica de Gregorio Cattaneo di Sant’Elia, who opened the doors of her historic mansion Palazzo Ischitella.
“The great engagement that Director Bellenger has lavished for the ribirth and the promotion of that borbonic treasure as Capodimonte, caretaker of the extraordinary Farnese collection” are the basis of the motivation that pushed Prince Charles of Bourbon Two Sicilies, motu proprio, to give this prestigious honour. In the explanatory statement, particular mention is made of the care of the Royal Park and the historic garden and the international relation with important cultural institutions as the Prado Museum, with which they organised the exhibition “Spanish people in Naples. The southern Renaissance” inaugurated last 13th of March and the Louvre Museum, which starting from the next 7th of June will host the “The Louvre invites Capodimonte. Naples in Paris” exhibition, a tribute to the great Pinacoteca del Mezzogiorno d’Italia, which will put in communication its masterpieces with those of the Parisian museum, and to the city of Naples, its literature, its music and its cinema, thanks to a full season of appointments that will run with the exhibition until January 2024.
The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George is one of the oldest and most prestigious dynastic orders in Europe, and the motu proprio knighthood is reserved only for important institutional positions, high-ranking aristocrats, heads of state, crowned heads, and ecclesiastical authorities. And it takes on greater value when, as in this case, it is conferred personally by Prince Charles of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Grand Master. The Constantinian Order is recognised by the Italian Republic and the UN.
“This prestigious honour of ‘Constantinian Knight’ is therefore closely linked both to the Bourbon dynasty and the Farnese dynasty, whose historical memory and immense artistic heritage Director Bellenger has contributed to protecting and enhancing, with absolute commitment and dedication”, the Royal House announced.
Among the many personalities who attended the presentation of the award, guests of the hosts Leopoldo and Federica de Gregorio Cattaneo di Sant’Elia, Delegate for Naples and Campania of the Constantinian Order, in the historical mansion of Palazzo Ischitella were the Army Corp General Giuseppenicola Tota, Commander Operational Forces Command South, the director of the State Archive Candida Carrino, Esq. Antonio de Notaristefani di Vastogirardi, president of the National Union of Civil Chambers, Esq. Riccardo Imperiali di Francavilla, president for the Campania Region of the Italian Historic Houses Association, Marquis Giuliano and Roberta Buccino Grimaldi, President of Circolo Unione of Naples, Marquis Roberto and Allegra Mottola d’Amato, President of Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia, the Conutess M. Grazia Leonetti di Santojanni, l’ingegnere Ciro Verdoliva, direttore generale dell’ASL Napoli 1, Valter Luca de Bartolomeis, school headmaster of the Institute Caselli-Real Fabbrica in Naples, based in the Royal Park of Capodimonte, the Mayor of Portici Enzo Cuomo, the Mayor of Frosinone Riccardo Mastrangeli, professor Stefano Greggi, Director of Complex Structure of Gynaecological Oncology at the National Cancer Institute of Naples – Fondazione G. Pascale and Elena Aceto di Capriglia, Giovanni D’Antonio, Matteo Genova Bocchi Bianchi, Federico and Isabella Imbert and Gianfranco Wurzburger, Head of the Ceremonial Office of the Archdiocese of Naples.
Director Bellenger received telephone greetings from Professor Massimo Osanna, Director of the General Directorate of Museums of the Ministry of Culture.