A place that enchants children and adults where the “Patients” are dolls and toys, including emergency rooms, wards, x-rays, are repaired with care and love by a team of specialized “doctors”.
Whole dolls, broken limbs, hands, heads, small toys and sound mechanisms… Emotions, memories, nostalgia have been regenerated in new forms without interruption for over a century.
The Doll Hospital, a strong point of Neapolitan tradition, where children of all ages have the chance to visit their favorite toy, as well as the other hospitalized dolls, follow the “doctors” as they go around the wards wearing a white coat and stethoscope.
Toys from times gone by, Dolls of all types, Marionettes, Puppets are the protagonists right from the start, while a video projected on the entrance door lets you imagine what you will be visiting shortly thereafter.
Each “patient” will receive all the necessary care from the Doctors, who will also subject the dolls to the X-ray machine. At the end of the visits, the doctors will issue each recovered doll with a certificate of good health.
In the Doll Hospital, the environments of a clinic have been recreated, complete with an Emergency Room and Reception Room where the first Diagnoses, Admissions and Discharges are carried out (even with the departments: orthopaedics, ophthalmology, mechanics, but also tailoring and make-up), a ward for the sick and even the veterinary clinic for the plush.
The Dolls’ Hospital is a museum in Naples, whose headquarters are in the Palazzo Marigliano in the central Spaccanapoli. It contains vintage toys and dolls, the Grugnettes from the Lenci company and the Barbies from the Mattel company.
Toys from times gone by, dolls of all types, marionettes and puppets are the protagonists right from the start, while a video projected on the entrance door lets you imagine what you will be visiting shortly thereafter.
Incredible quantity of doll parts, meticulously divided into categories including legs, arms, heads, eyes, noses, hair, shoes, clothes, accessories and everything that can be used to repair a toy in every detail
A small stage surrounded by lots of dolls and, for children, a real interactive experience.
A historical visit route and a clinic
Precious collection of antique dolls, handcrafted, with an unrepeatable charm and history. Guided tours (by reservation) to discover the tricks and mysteries of the “construction” and restoration of a doll.
the “Bambolatorio”: that is, the clinic where children are invited to play to monitor the vital parameters of dolls and puppets waiting to be put back together.
If you have dolls that you no longer use you can donate them (even by shipping them) and you will become a donor member.
THE HISTORY
The Doll Hospital was born at the end of the 19th century when, in via San Biagio dei Librai, the great-grandfather of Tiziana Grassi, heir to this ancient art, began his activity in a shop where he prepared sets for theaters and fixed puppets.
One day a mother passed by who had decided to turn to him to repair her daughter’s favorite doll. The set designer welcomed her with his white coat that he always wore so as not to get dirty while working and guaranteed her that the doll would be as good as new in a few days. The promise was kept and word began to spread around the city.
So others began to bring dolls to fix. Outside that shop there was soon an exhibition of many different pieces of dolls, so much so that, as Tiziana Grassi recounts, a lady passing by exclaimed “this looks like a doll hospital!”. Thus began the long and prodigious history of the Doll’s Hospital.
Doll Hospital
Marigliano Palace
Via San Biagio dei Librai 39
Naples
Campania – Italy
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