The Villa Pignatellihouses the Museum " Principe  Diego Pignatelli Aragona Cortes.
Commissioned in 1826 by the Baronet Sir Ferdinand Richard Acton (son of John Acton, prime minister of Ferdinand I), the villa was built by Pietro Valente that was succeeded in 1830 by William Bechi.
A few years after the death of Sir Acton, in 1841, the villa was bought by the Rothschild ,family of German bankers, who lived until 1860. In 1867 the villa was sold to the Pignatelli Aragona Cortes who were its owners until 1952, when Princess Rosina Pignatelli made a donation to the Italian state why it was turned into a museum designed to perpetuate the name of her husband, Prince Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes. Together with the villa, the family gave Pignatelli silver, bronzes, porcelains, enamels, crystals, all set in the ground floor rooms of the museum. In 1998 the art gallery was set up by the Banco di Napoli.
Exterior
The construction is characterized by a square generated by the sum of two equal rectangles. One of the rectangles, spread over two floors, is the real body of the residence, while the other, divided only at the level of the ground floor, on the southern front is preceded by a porch neodorico order.
The English garden shaped, moved in the design of roads and varied selection of plants arranged in "a thicket", was designed by William Bechi. The current provision in the original layout. Among the most beautiful and rare species existing today have to be reported to the Araucaria excelsa, the Grevillea robusta, Ficus Magnolioides, the Strelitzia Augusta, Cycadaceae and different types of palm trees of various kinds. There are also many plants of Camellias, the back lawn stands in its grandeur with a Magnolia Grandiflora.
At the end of the century the park was decorated with small buildings gender "quaint" the neo-Gothic tower, the Swiss Chalet, the Serra. On the northern front through a portico with four Doric columns with as many semi huddled on the ground floor is accessed.
Internal
From the vestibule on the ground floor where you can see a table neoclassical wooden polychrome marble and semiprecious stones, you enter the gallery and two rooms at this company. That leads to the east in the large ballroom here in the hall and the orchestra. The west hall leads to the dining room and picture gallery, also used as a billiard room. The stucco decoration, paintings and furnishings of these rooms are the original ones.
The first floor, accessible from the circular entrance hall was intended for the owner's residence. It is characterized by the presence of several rooms: The Red Room is decorated in white stucco and gold dating back to the Rothschilds, lounges Green and Blue, the Beautiful wood paneling in the dining room and library, with the splendid saved, the Renaissance libraries from the slot and armchairs upholstered in leather. The princess gave Rosina silver, bronze and crystal belonging to her family and a rich collection of European porcelain of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The most representative is that of Meissen also with specimens dating as old as coffee service with seascapes of 1735-40, or the tableau with the Rape of Proserpine, 1750. The Royal Factory of Capodimonte Washerwoman the famous, the gentleman with tails, the scene with gallant little dog biscuit many of the Royal Factory in Naples and other objects of the same manufacture.
Also rich collection of oriental porcelain of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The attic and basement, accessible via the service stairs well disguised, they were destined to servitude, to closets and pantries, and kitchens were located in the basement of a nearby building and connected to the villa through a small underground tunnel. Currently the rooms on the first floor were devoted to venue for exhibitions.