Miscellaneous churches in Naples 6

Miscellaneous Churches 6

San Pietro Martire. The main body of this ex-monastery now houses departments of the Federico II University of Naples. The origins of San Pietro Martire go back to the Angevin dynasty in Naples when Charles II of Anjou authorized the construction of a new Domenican basilica. Construction was begun in 1294. (At the time, the area was already a maze of tight alleyways close to the port; the layout of the area that one sees today was greatly changed by the urban rebuilding, the Risanamento, of the late 1800s.)

Originally the premises were meant to house only 13 monks, but, even then, building went forward only in spurts as priorities changed under succeeding monarchs. The Renaissance courtyard is the result of the first real expansion in the early 1500s. In the 1630s, the main belfry was added, the work of F.A. Picchiati. Further construction and expansion occurred in the 1750s. The monastery was closed under the French rule of Murat in the early 1800s and then definitively closed in 1864. The complex was badly damaged in WW II bombings (it is very near the port); it was entirely restored in 1979. The old "church part" of the complex is a university chapel today and is directly across from the main building of the university on Corso Umberto I.

Our Lady of Mercy. The presence of the Spanish Mercedarian order is part of the consolidation of the Spanish monarchy in the vice-realm of Naples in the 1500s. This church/monastery is at the western end of via Chiaia (now a pedestrian thoroughfare), a road that, indeed, was once the main way to get from the area around the Royal palace to the newer Spanish expansions to the west along the sea front. (Actually, it still is the easiest way if you don't mind a short walk.) The church is on the site of an earlier Chapel of St. Orsola from the 1400s; construction to incorporate that chapel into the newer church started in the late 1500s. The church is not particularly conspicuous from the front as it is abutted on both sides by other buildings. Like many church/monasteries in Naples, it was closed under the French in the early 1800s, but later reopened. It underwent extensive restoration in the 1850s. Ten years later, the unification of Italy forced the closure of virtually all monasteries in Italy. In 1874, the former monastic premises were sold and eventually converted into the Sannazzaro Theater, still operating. The adjacent church stayed a church and remains essentially what one sees today.

Santa Maria delle Grazie is below the Corso Vittorio Emanuele at a small square called Piazza Mondragone, a name historically applied to the entire premises that contain the small church: il Retiro di Mondragone, the Mondragone Retreat. The entire complex was originally a "conservatory", in the early non-musical use of the word to mean a shelter, a place where widows and destitute women might be cared for. The complex was founded in 1653 by Elena Aldobrandini, countess of Mondragone. Construction of the church, itself, was somewhat later than the shelter; the church is from 1715. Urbanization and subdivision of the area has reduced Santa Maria della Grazie to a rather sorry state. For a long time, it was simply closed but has recently been at least partially restored. It is considered an outstanding example of late Barque art and archictecture in Naples.

Santa Maria Assunta di Bellavista. It is difficult to say which church in Naples has the best view of the bay. This one has to be high on anyone's list. It is way out of town at Piazza San Luigi, on the long main road, via Posillipo, that winds west away from Mergellina and up the hill towards Cape Posillipo. (The photo, right, was taken from the road that runs down to the sea, the cape and villa Volpicelli.) From the long monastery-like façade, one is tempted to compare this church to the old Spanish buildings in downtown Naples—maybe spectacularly restored. Not so; in fact, from the side or above, you see that the building is not a gigantic monastic block, but simply a very long façade fronting a relatively shallow building. It was built in only 4 years, beginning in 1860 on land granted by Francis II (the last king of Naples) to two sisters of the Capece Minutolo family. The church, itself, is only the central portion of the building. The two wings were meant to house, respectively, a school and shelter for the poor on one side and dwellings on the other. The clean neo-Gothic façade, thus, is not a restoration, but the original design.

Santa Maria della Paziena is commonly called the "Cesarea", after Annibale Cesareo, the royal secretary responsible in 1602 for the construction of what was then a church plus major hospital. It is located about halfway up the Vomero hill above the archaeological museum and accessible from below by the main road up, via Salvator Rosa. It is today just above the intersection of that street and Corso Vittorio Emanuele (a major east-west road which did not exist until the mid-1800s). The "Cesarea" was, at the time it was built, well outside of town. Originally, the church and hospital were under the direct administration of the Holy See. The hospital was closed in the late 1800s under a general move towards secularization of health-care facilities in Naples, and the administration of the church was transferred to the archbishopric of Naples.

Santa Maria del Parto (Birth) overlooks the small port of Mergellina and is quite easy to "underlook" if you are busy with the daily portside routine. Yet, the church is very old and very historic. It was founded by the great Neapolitan poet Iaccopo Sannazzaro on land he obtained in 1497 from Frederick II of Aragon. The king also gave Sannazzaro a stipend; thus, the poet spent the last years of his life working on his church and his poem, De partu Virginis, at the same time.

Although the entire complex has been divided and subdivided over the years, it is evident that the whole affair was once a single unit and was much bigger than the quaint church on top (photo). The original plans called for a two-level complex—the church that you see today on top and another church dug in the tuffaceous cliff face below at a point where there was a cave that contained a well-known wooden presepe (manger scene) by Giovanni da Nola. The premises also included a monastery, using part of an earlier structure that had been on the site from the time of the Angevin dynasty. The first church was finished in good order, but the second part had some problems in the early 1500s due to a plague epidemic that forced Sannazzaro to leave Naples. Also, the French and Spanish were still fighting for control of the area; thus, at one point in the 1520s, the new church was converted into a military fortification. Before his death, Sannazzaro managed to get the property back, and heirs finished the project. Later, the monastery part was closed by the French in the early 1800s and, for a while, those premises became the private property of the Neapolitan opera iimpressario, Domenico Barbaia.

The church of Santa Teresa degli Scalzi (aka Santa Teresa al Museo or Madre di Dio) is the eponym for the street on which it is located, just around the corner to the north of the National Archaological Museum. The broad street was the new thoroughfare built by the French under Murat in the early 1800s to connect the historic center of the city with the royal palace of Capodimonte. In spite of the historical importance of the church and the great number of art works contained on the premises, it is almost never open to be visited. The interior of the church is a treasure trove, with works by painters Paolo de Matteis and Battistello Caracciolo and the sculptor Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, among many others. Also, the church holds a painting of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII. It is by Giacomo Colombo and is from 1715, the era of the brief Austrian Hapsburg vice-realm in Naples. The chapel of St. Teresa within the church was designed by Cosimo Fanzago and is considered relevant in the history of Neapolitan Baroque art

S.M. degli Scalzi was built between 1604 and 1612 and was the first church and monastery of the Discalced ("barefoot") Carmelite Order in Naples. The founders were Carmelite monks from Spain, followers of St. Teresa of Ávila. The façade of S.M. degli Scalzi contains a stucco statue of St. Teresa and one of St. John of the Cross; the façade is from 1652 and is the work of Fanzago.

When religious orders were closed in 1808, some of the furnishings within the church were moved elsewhere to conserve them as cultural atifacts. In this case, the original altar, built by the Neapolitan sculptor, Dionisio Lazzari (1617-89), was moved to the royal palace, where it resides today. The double stairway is the result of later construction in the 1830s after the church was reopened. The ex-monastic premises today house an Industry and Crafts Institute for the Blind.

San Carlo all' Arena. This church with the strange name is located on the north side of via Foria, just east of Piazza Cavour, and is relatively late in the history of Neapolitan church building. The general layout of the building is attributed to the Domincan priest/architect Fra Nuvolo (Vincenzo de Nuvola, 1570-1643), but the church was not inaugurated until 1700 with work on the facade continuing as late as 1756. This is actually a rebuilt version of another church of the same name somewhat to the west of the present site; that church was opened in 1602 and is no longer standing. The name, itself, "Arena" means "sand" and refers to the former presence of a rain-fed river that ran along what is now via Foria, all presence of which has now vanished; the last witness to that presence, the nearby bridge of Sant'Antonio abate, was demolished in 1868. The church was home to the Cistercian order, which, however, had to abandon the premises in 1792 to make room for a shelter ("conservatorio"), a plan that never came to fruition. With the coming of the anti-clericalism of the short-lived Neapolitan Republic of 1799 and then of the longer-lived French rule under Murat at the beginning of the 1800s, the premises were used as a store-house; many of the art works contained in the church and monastery were lost. Thanks to the work of the Cistercian order during the cholera outbreak of 1836, they were again given the property. After the unification of Italy, the order was surpressed. The ex-monastic premises are today occupied by public buildings. The church today still contains significant art work and sculpture.

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