Mayor's books

 
Guglielmo Capitelli has been the mayor of Naples from 17th of April 1868 to 25th September 1870. After he obtained the degrees in letters and jurisprudence, following the formative model in fashion among the offsprings of the well-to-do family of that period, he begun to travel toward the main cities of Europe. Having backed in Naples he started an intense and brilliant practice of law to which he added a political engagement that, in 1865, took him to the town council.

As major he faced up to topics and he carried out enterprises of particular importance: the promotion of public education, the extension of Via Duomo, the readjustment of Riviera di Chiaia, of the Fosse del Grano and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the containment of alluvial phenomenon known as "Virgin's lava", the structure of a first line of tram rail towed by horses.

The passion for matters of law, a predilection inherited from his father Domenico (jurist and headmaster of a private institute of law, he participated to the rising of 1848. The Commune of Naples has dedicated to him a street in Quartiere San Giuseppe) took him to enrich by ancient and precious volumes the already conpicuous family library.

Guglielmo, having become Count because of King Vittorio Emanuele II's will, on January of 1883 donated to the civic Library a part of his remarkable bibliographic patrimony. Today the book fund, guarded and at scholars disposal in the Archivio Storico Municipale (Municipal Historical Archive),
has 250 volumes printed in a space of time going from 1571 to 1834.

Scrolling the parchment backs or the morocco red on which stand out handwritten titles or smart gussets with golden impressions, it's possible to meet with omnia works, commentaries, treatises, collections edited by eminent jurisconsults which studies represent considerable contributions to the historical evolution of the legal disciplines between XVI and XIX century.