Just off the well-trodden tourist path that swings through the pizzerias and ancient ruins of the southern city of Naples, Italy, is a museum often overshadowed by its counterparts to the north — but is nearly as impressive and far more serene.

The Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte boasts a solid collection of Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings from across the country, among them notable works from Titian, one of the city’s three Caravaggios and the impressive works of lesser-known artists like Parmigianino. A collection of Neapolitan works explores Renaissance principles then radiating from farther north.

Capodimonte can feel like a hidden gem compared to galleries in Rome and Florence, which swarm with visitors during summer. Few seem to tour here, an area distant enough from downtown that visitors must make a point of reaching it. Locals mostly stick to the former royal grounds outside, one of the city’s few green spots.

The museum is hardly hidden. Located inside a former palace of the city’s Bourbon rulers, it is a chunk of royal architecture perched atop one of the city’s two dominant hills.

Capodimonte partly preserves the rooms and art of the former palace, but the real treasure is the earlier artwork, much of it from the Farnese family collection moved from Rome in the 19th century. The family’s most esteemed member, Pope Paul III, served from 1534 to 1549 and enjoyed collecting and commissioning art.

Portraits of the pope and his contemporaries are among the first works in the Farnese gallery on the first floor. Titian painted many of them, putting depth and presence into the gazes of some of the era’s most powerful men. The pope is frail but shrewd. Charles V, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, is circumspect.

Nearby are several literal heavyweights, the large, muscular bodies sketched by Michelangelo and Raphael in preparatory cartoons that act as blueprints for later frescoes. Look closely and notice the pinholes along the lines, used to transfer the outline onto the wall.

Michelangelo’s muscular style and Raphael’s classical softness are visible in works across the gallery, speaking to the masters’ influence. Other artists are more distinct.

A personal favorite is Parmigianino, whose portrait subjects pose with their personal effects — a mink stole, a pair of gloves — and stare out as if defying or confronting the viewer.

His portrayal of Lucretia, a Roman noblewoman whose suicide is a common theme in Italian art, is striking. Her face flushes as the knife enters her breast and she gazes upward, her mouth slightly open. Her elaborate braids are a testament to her dignity, even in death.

The floor above is devoted to Naples art but dominated by a single work from the city’s favorite son, Caravaggio. Venetian by birth and style but a drifter for life, Caravaggio fled to Naples in 1606 after killing a man in Rome. Three of his works remain, one of them at Capodimonte.

Cleverly placed at the end of the wing and visible in the distance with every entry or exit from an exhibit room, the work stands out sharply from the gilded altarpieces that precede it, drawing the visitor near. Titled “Flagellation,” it shows the twisted, illuminated body of Christ being flogged by tormentors half-obscured in shadows, their violence visible in their tensed muscles and an ugly scowl caught in the light. It is, like most of his works, grimy, violent and incredibly real.

Caravaggio’s works stunned Naples, and his style of light and shadow influenced a set of devotees whose works finish the wing.

They offer a fitting end to the museum and a metaphor for the city itself, beautiful and brutal in equal measure.

beardsley.steven@stripes.com Twitter: @sjbeardsley

Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte

DIRECTIONS: Address: via Miano, 2, 80131 Napoli

TIMES: 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily, except Wednesday. Ticket office closes one hour before the museum closes.

COSTS: Normal entry is 7.50 euros. The price drops to 6.50 euros after 2 p.m. An audioguide costs 5 euros.

FOOD: The museum has a cafe, and other options (trattorias, street food) are abundant outside the park.

INFORMATION: Telephone: (+39) (0)81-749-9111. English information cards are available in many of the museum’s rooms. An audioguide or book (available at the ticket office, which doubles as a gift shop), is recommended. Street parking is available but can be limited at certain times of the day. Signs around the park will point to parking garages with reasonable rates. I paid 5 euros for a garage on the northern side of the park. The former royal grounds and woods surrounding the museum are large (nearly 300 acres), well-kept and popular in a city with few such expanses. Entry to the park is free.

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