Pompeii – Prince Albert II of Monaco will visit Pompeii on Thursday, May 15, as part of a short but intense institutional trip to Italy. He is scheduled to arrive the day before, Wednesday, May 14, landing in Bari.
From there, the Monegasque sovereign will reach Irsina, in the province of Matera, one of the municipalities included in 2023 among the “Grimaldi Historic Sites of Monaco”, a network that connects places historically linked to the dynasty of the Principality.
In the evening, the transfer by car to Campania, where the following day he will be engaged in a series of official appointments. At 9 in the morning, a meeting is scheduled with the mayor of Pompeii, Carmine Lo Sapio, followed by a greeting to the municipal council and a short speech focused on the possible cultural and institutional synergies between the Principality and the Vesuvian city.
The visit will continue with a two-hour guided tour inside the Pompeii Archaeological Park and a subsequent stop for breakfast at the port of Marina di Stabia. In the early afternoon, Albert II will go to the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii, a place to which, according to Palace sources, his mother Grace Kelly was particularly devoted.
The prince will be accompanied, among others, by Fulvio Gazzola, president of the Grimaldi Historic Sites, Ambassador Anne Eastwood and Mariano Bruno, honorary consul of the Principality for over 25 years. An official lunch is planned for the evening in Naples, after the Giro d'Italia passes through the city, where the prince will stop before leaving on Friday morning for Monaco.
The connection with Naples and Campania
The bond between the Monegasque sovereign and Campania is deep and long-standing. Albert II has visited Naples several times. The last time was in 2018, when he received an honorary degree in Navigation Sciences and Technologies from Parthenope University.
Previously, in 2015, he had inaugurated a photographic exhibition on the Mediterranean at Castel dell'Ovo and attended the rehearsals of La Traviata at the Teatro San Carlo, where he met the director Ferzan Ozpetek. "My first time in Naples? I was just two years old," the prince told Corriere del Mezzogiorno at the time. "Naples is a city that changes, but it always remains beautiful."
Already in 1997, when he was still heir to the throne, Albert of Monaco had paid homage to the Angevin sovereigns buried in Santa Chiara and visited Campagna, in the Salerno area, an ancient fiefdom of the Grimaldis in the Habsburg era. He also returned there as reigning prince in 2007.
During his visit, the sovereign is expected to renew his interest in strengthening cultural and institutional relations with Campania, confirming a bond that has lasted for centuries.
Article published on May 13, 2025 - 08:55 pm
