Totò's House

About this activity

In a small, bare apartment located inside a white building in St. Mary Antesaecula Street, an ancient and labyrinthine street in the heart of Naples, named after the church of the same name, a landmark of Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture in Naples, around 7:00 a.m. on February 15, 1898, saw the light of what would become the most famous Neapolitan comedian capable of entertaining, even today, generations of Italians: Antonio de Curtis, aka Totò. Would you like to see Totó House renovated and be able to visit it?

Why visit the House of Totò

Since July 5, 1978, a marble plaque has been affixed to the wall of No. 109 Via Santa Maria Antesaecula in memory of the place where the Prince of Laughter was born. That plaque, since 2014, has been illuminated by a spotlight that makes the following words legible even at night: -
It was here, on Via S. Maria Antesaecula, one of the oldest streets in old Naples, that on 15-2-1898 the Prince Antonio De Curtis, our Totò. He was a comedian incomparable for his mimicry, a man of noble sentiments, a distinguished poet, among those that Italy can contrast with the world's greatest artists.

Totò, or rather, Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Ducas Angelo Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis of Byzantium, Royal Highness, Count Palatine, Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, Exarch of Ravenna, Duke of Macedonia and Illyria, Prince of Constantinople, of Cilicia, of Thessaly, of Moldavia Bridge, of Dardania and the Peloponnese, Count of Cyprus and Epirus, Count and Duke of Drivasto and Durazzo (a name that just reading it all would make anyone say "So much for baking soda!"), in almost fifty years of his career he ranged from theater (with more than 50 titles) to cinema (with 97 films) and television (with 9 telefilms and various advertising sketches), working with many of the best-known protagonists of the Italian scene and achieving, with several of his films, box-office records.

An incredible career not only because of the length and breadth of film and theater works, but also and especially because of the unique way in which the Neapolitan comedian has been able to reach the hearts of his audience and stay there. Everyone knows him - old people, adults and children - and his name passes above generations and time.

Totò was born in a house at No. 107, then moved at the age of a few months to the first-floor apartment at No. 109, remaining there until 1922, when he found his fortune in Rome and moved there with his entire family after finding fortune in the capital at the very modest Teatro Salone Elena in Umberto Capece's company.

It was in this apartment that the Prince of Laughter took his first steps and began to forge his art by imitating passersby observed from the balcony, earning for this the nickname of 'o spy (the snitch), which was disliked by his mother, who decided to send him to boarding school.
All that indicates today that Totò lived in that house is the plaque in his memory, affixed to the left of the front door, wanted by the residents of the Sanità District.

The most important things to know about Totò's house

Totò's birthplace, located inside a damp palace that bears the marks of the 1980s earthquake, actually opens for public visits only on February 15 and April 15 each year, the anniversaries of the great artist's birth and death, respectively, remaining a pilgrimage destination for his admirers but ignored by institutions.

If the apartment on Santa Maria Antesaecula Street still retains its original appearance from when Mama Anna and Grandma Teresa looked out of the window, it is due to Mrs. Canoro and son Joseph De Chiara, who decided to buy it at the twelfth bar of a judicial auction, after no less than eleven unsuccessful auctions. The auction value of Totò's house had started from 60 million old lira to reach, at the twelfth auction, a figure of €18,000.

Until 2001,moreover, what could rightfully be a national monument was occupied without title by an elderly couple, who in exchange for a little money let them visit it, while part of the apartment, precisely one room, was illicitly merged with the apartment next door.

After several tedious and bureaucratic events, the front door was restored in 2010, riggiole (a type of ceramic tile that is often tiled and decorated by hand) were purchased, and the building was plastered.

De Chiara and his mother also founded the Association The Prince of Dreams nurturing a strong desire to make that house a cultural gathering place.