San Gennaro dei Poveri is a former monastery and church complex, later converted into a hospital for indigent located on Via San Gennaro dei Poveri #25 in the Rione Sanità, of the city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Italy. The elongated complex rises towards Capodimonte, lying just south of the domed Basilica dell'Incoronata Madre del Buon Consiglio.

History

Originally, the site housed a paleo-christian church, putatively erected at the site of an Ancient Roman temple dedicated to Vulcan. Supposedly the then Bishop of Naples, later St

Severus of Naples Saint Severus ( it, San Severo di Napoli) (died 409) was a bishop of Naples during the 4th and 5th centuries. He is considered the twelfth bishop of Naples, succeeding Maximus. His episcopate ran from February 363 to April 29, 409, the traditiona ...

(died 409), transferred the venerated relics of St Januarius, to a church of San Gennaro extra Moenia (San Gennaro outside the walls) located on the northernmost corner of the complex. Over the following centuries, these relics were divided and moved till they were putatively collected in the

Cathedral of San Gennaro The Naples Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Napoli; nap, Viscuvato 'e Napule), or Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary ( it, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, links=no), is a Roman Catholic cathedral, the main church of Naples, southern Italy, and the s ...

in central Naples. By the early 9th century, a Benedictine monastery with an attached hospital was founded here under the government of Archbishop

Athanasius I Athanasius I may refer to: * Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 293 – 373), also called Pope Athanasius I of Alexandria, Christian theologian * Athanasius I Gammolo (died 631), Syriac Patriarch of Antioch * Athanasius I (bishop of Naples) (830–872) * ...

. The late 9th-century Archbishop and Duke of Naples, Athanasius of Naples, moved the body of his uncle and namesake from the

Abbey of Montecassino An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

to this church. By the 15th century, dissensions within the monastery led to its dissolution, and in 1468 the Cardinal Oliviero Carafa formulated the building into a hospital funded by various neighborhoods. After the plague of 1656, the hospital was expanded and by 1669 the viceroy Pietro Antonio of Aragon, seeking to move much of the indigent handicapped individuals () out of the city center, converted the hospital into a hospice for the poor. As such, was the first hospice for the poor in Naples, and remained the major such site until the 1750s, when the much more ambitious project of the Royal Hospice for the Poor was built. San Gennaro still functions as a hospital.

Architecture

The narrow four story façade, rising across from the

Parco di San Gennaro Parco can refer to: * Parco, Tibet, a town in China * Parco (retailer), a chain of department stores primarily in Japan * Parco Historic District (also known as Sinclair Historic District), Sinclair, Wyoming, United States * Parco P.I., a reality ...

, with statue filled niches above a large rounded portal leads into an elongated courtyard flanked by parallel wings. The façade statues, including those of St Peter and St Januarius by Cosimo Fanzago. At the north end of the courtyard is the former church of San Gennaro extra Moenia. The former church is used now for exhibitions.Comune of Naples
entry on church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gennaro Dei Poveri, Naples Hospitals in Naples Churches in Naples 1667 establishments in the Kingdom of Naples Religious organizations established in the 1660s Catholic organizations established in the 17th century Rione Sanità