From the Neapolitan eighteenth century to today , a historical-artistic jewel reveals many souls: it is the Real Monte Museum and the Archconfraternity of San Giuseppe of the work of dressing the nudes, a suggestive dimension of memory enclosed in the historical archive, the founders' room, the oratory of the brothers, sacristy and garden.

A photographic journey, born from a study and documentation project, tells of this interesting cultural site, partner of the Extramann network: here we are, therefore, on a symbolic journey from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples to the excellence of the city, with the exhibition "Confratelli" by Luigi Spina (MANN, March 19 - June 30).

The artist, nominated by Artribune as the best senior Italian photographer of 2020, focuses in particular, with his own lens, on the pictorial portraits made in the hall of the former government between the mid-eighteenth and early twentieth centuries: in the thirty canvases selected by Luigi Spina are celebrated the "confreres", benefactors who supported the monumental complex with charitable works. Nobles, men of law, intellectuals and religious reveal, on canvas, how the stories of individual characters intertwine the history of a cult monument: photography has the task of going beyond the fixed haughtiness of the portrait, identifying cracks, dystonias, emotions often not legible with the naked eye. Among the figures immortalized by Spina, Michele Arditi cannot be missing, who at the beginning of the nineteenth century took care of the first installation of the then Real Bourbon Museum: the face of Arditi, represented in painting and now reinterpreted with photography, is the guiding image of the exhibition. as a real trait d'union between different places united by history.

The exhibition, presented at the entrance to the Prehistory and Protohistory section of the MANN , is built in a circular space, which enhances the photographs (90X134cm) on display, all made in color and arranged on a galvanized iron circle. The shots are presented in a refined volume published by 5 Continents editions: in the book, there is an in-depth analysis of all the portraits present in the monumental complex, including the depiction of Charles III of Bourbon.

The exhibition will be inaugurated at the Museum on St. Joseph's Day (Saturday 19 March - 11 am), in the presence of Paolo Giulierini (Director of MANN), Gaetano Manfredi (Mayor of Naples), Ugo de Flaviis (President of the San Giuseppe dei Arciconfraternita Foundation Nudi), Almerinda Di Benedetto (art historian and co-author of the scientific project of the exhibition) and Luigi Spina (photographer).