Carlo Brioschi (1781-1833), the first director of the Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory, began a systematic program of observations as soon as he arrived in Naples. The handwritten table for January 1830 is part of a folder recently discovered in the Observatory’s archival repository. This folder also contains pluviometric records from 1832-1833 and observation tables from the period 1848-1851, absent from the Annali civili del Regno delle Due Sicilie. The discovery is of particular significance for the history of meteorological observations at Capodimonte, as it fills important documentary gaps and provides new evidence for a more accurate reassessment of nineteenth- and twentieth-century publications on Neapolitan climatology.
According to bibliographic sources, Brioschi began his meteorological observations in 1821, publishing the monthly results - i.e., summaries without the daily data tables - in the Calendario della reale Specola di Napoli between 1821 and 1832. In fact, from the evening of his first astronomical observation at Capodimonte on December 17, 1819, Brioschi had already been recording temperature and pressure values in his diaries.
However, interest in the study of atmospheric phenomena and climatic variations in the Neapolitan capital has far older roots. Among the earliest figures to engage in this field was Niccolò Cirillo (1671-1735), a physician at the Ospedale degli Incurabili, who cultivated naturalistic interests with particular attention to botany and meteorology. He deepened his knowledge by reading the leading scientific journals of the time, such as the Philosophical Transactions, which he regularly received from London. Beginning in August 1724, he established direct contact with the Royal Society, regularly sending the meteorological data collected in Naples in the form of the Diarium meteorologicum Neapolitanum, thus contributing to the international observation network promoted by the English society.
Another prominent figure was Ascanio Filomarino (1751-1799), “gentleman of the Chamber” to King Ferdinand IV, collector of minerals and historical views of Vesuvius’s eruptions. Filomarino set up a laboratory in his residence equipped with instruments for seismic measurements and organized meetings and discussions among scholars. His interest in meteorology is evidenced by an unpublished letter sent to the Royal Society, Osservazioni del maggior freddo, caldo degl’anni seguenti, secondo il termometro di M.r Raymur (“Observations of the greatest cold and heat of the following years, according to Mr. Réaumur’s thermometer”), in which he reports his barometric, hygrometric, and thermometric observations recorded in Naples between January 1779 and December 1783, using a Réaumur thermometer.
In the late eighteenth century, Giuseppe Cassella (1755-1808) was a central figure in astronomical studies in the Kingdom of Naples. After completing his astronomical and experimental training in Padua at the Observatory of Abbot Toaldo, in 1786 Cassella was recalled to Naples to teach nautical astronomy at the Royal Naval Academy and mechanics at the Royal College of Artillery. In 1791 he obtained approval to build an observatory in the Palazzo dei Regi Studi (Palace of the Royal Studies), a project later abandoned due to the limited view of the horizon. Despite Giuseppe Maria Giovene’s (1753-1837) proposals to create a meteorological society based in Naples, which was never realized and the abandonment of the observatory project, Cassella continued astronomical and meteorological observations for many years. Between 1792 and 1797, he published brief reports on the atmospheric conditions of the capital in the Calendario e notiziario della corte, indicating the coldest and warmest days of the year along with the maximum and minimum values recorded by the barometer.
With the advent of the French government, King Joseph Bonaparte promoted the revival of scientific studies and, in 1807, established the Astronomical Observatory at the former Monastery of San Gaudioso Observatory, entrusting it to Cassella. The building was intended to house both the astronomical observatory and a meteorological station, as well as a chemical laboratory. After Cassella’s death, his brother Angelo continued the meteorological activities, publishing in the Calendario dell’anno 1810 pel Regno di Napoli 1810 fatto nell’Osservatorio di S. Gaudioso, the “Meteorological Reports for the ”Year 1808.
Cassella’s scientific legacy was continued by Federigo Zuccari (1784-1817), who in 1812 initiated the construction of the new Observatory at Capodimonte. At San Gaudioso, Zuccari continued to systematically record atmospheric data according to the criteria set by the Aargauische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, joining the European network of meteorological observatories promoted by the Swiss Society. His publications in local journals and newspapers, such as the Giornale enciclopedico di Napoli and the Giornale delle Due Sicilie, marked the beginning of a modern observational tradition, interrupted only by his death in 1817 and resumed with the opening of the new Observatory in 1819.

___Emilia Olostro Cirella