Greek myths on show in Naples

(ANSA) - Naples, June 8 - Rooms in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples that have been closed for years reopened to the public on Wednesday with an exhibition on seduction and transformation in Greek mythology.
    'Amori divini' (Divine loves) presents approximately 80 artworks including paintings, sculptures, jewels and ornaments from local antiquity and Magna Graecia, as well as paintings and sculptures from the 16th and 17th centuries including Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's Diana and Actaeon and Guido Cagnacci's The Rape of Europe.
    Visitors can also walk across a sumptuous original mosaic floor from the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. The exhibition, running until October 16, has been curated by Anna Anguissola and Carmela Capaldi.
    Drawing inspiration from the excavations at Pompeii, it takes visitors on a journey through amorous myths in which at least one of the protagonists morphs into an animal, plant, object or atmospheric phenomenon.
    Each ancient artefact on display is accompanied by a selection of more recent works.
    One section tells of the 'stolen love' of Greek myths such as that of Ganymede and another of 'love denied', such as that of Daphne and Apollo and of Echo and Narcissus, so dear to Ovid and the Romans. The rooms hosting the exhibition are characterised by geometic marble floor inlays and ancient mosaics inserted into the floors in the first half of the 19th century, including one from the belvedere of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum.
    The floors have now been consolidated and cleaned to reveal their colours in all their glory.