‘O spitale de’ Bambule': the shop-museum that takes care of the toys

In the central Spaccanapoli, in via San Biagio dei Librai, precisely inside the stables of Palazzo Marigliano, stands the Hospital of dolls. The birth dates back to 1895, when Luigi Grassi, scenographer of the Teatro San Carlo, founded a small workshop for the construction of its scenography and for the repair and restoration of the equipment used in theatrical performances. Soon it will become a point of reference for the whole city, so much so that a woman, one day, entering the small shop exclaims "me pare proprio o' spitale d'è bambule".

Since then Luigino Grassi, inspired by this exclamation, hung at the entrance of the shop a small craft plaque writing in red "Ospedale delle Bambole" on a wooden tablet with a small cross, just like a real emergency room.

Thus was born the Hospital of Dolls, a real center of repair of toys, dolls, stuffed animals and puppets: when you enter this unique place, poetic and special, you enter a real clinic of memories. Yes, because what you repair, there, are not only "dolls", but all the emotional carry that memories have, returning intact memories and images of history and the past, that the dolls themselves carry with them.