Santa Maria Donnregina Nuova is a church in central

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 Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is called ''Nuova'' ("new") to distinguish it from the older Angevin church of

Santa Maria Donna Regina Vecchia Santa Donna Regina Vecchia is a church in Naples, in southern Italy. It is called ''Vecchia'' ("old") to distinguish it from the newer and adjacent church of Santa Maria Donna Regina Nuova. The earliest mention of a church on this site is from t ...

History

The earliest church was built on this location in the 14th century. The nuns from the adjacent monastery commissioned the new structure. While traditionally the architect Giovanni Guarino, a pupil of Francesco Grimaldi was cited as the architect of the present

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

church, more recent documentation cites Giovanni Giacomo Conforto. The first documented payments for design were from 1626, which is also when the facade was completed. The marble portal was completed by Bernardino Landini in 1634, and the cupola in 1654. The church was consecrated in 1669. Among the architects that over the next century worked designs for parts of the structure include

Arcangelo Guglielmelli Arcangelo Guglielmelli (1723) was an Italian architect and painter, active in his native Naples, Italy, in a late-Baroque style. He was involved in the building and reconstruction of churches, many of which had been damaged by the earthquakes of ...

and

Ferdinando Sanfelice Ferdinando Sanfelice (1675 – 1 April 1748) was an Italian late Baroque architect and painter. Sanfelice was born in Naples and died there. He was one of the principal architects in Naples in the first half of the 18th century. He was a stude ...

. The convent was shut down in the 1861, and the Clarisse nuns moved to the

monastery of Santa Chiara A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes ...

.Museo Diocesano di Napoli
, Museum of architecture. Since 2007 the church has housed the

Diocesan Museum A diocesan museum is a museum for an ecclesiastical diocese, a geographically-based division of the Christian Church. Austria: * Diocesan Museum, Graz, Styria * Gurk Treasury, Carinthia * Diocesan Museum, Linz, Upper Austria * Cathedral Mus ...

. Originally the monastery and the church were connected by a passage between the tribune of the new church and the apse of the old one, but this was eliminated by the 1928-1934 restoration. The façade presents a wide 17th-century staircase, and houses two

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

statues portraying Saints

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

and Bartholomew. The interior has a single nave with six side chapels and a rich

marble decoration. The ceiling has a large fresco (1654) by

Francesco de Benedictis Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: Pe ...

. The sides of the apse have frescoes by

Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of ...

portraying histories of St Francis. In the first chapel on the right are frescoes by Antonio Guastaferro; the second chapel has frescoes on the wall and ceiling by

Tommaso Fasano Tommaso is an Italian given name. It has also been used as a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name A * Tommaso Acquaviva d'Aragona (1600–1672), Roman Catholic prelate * Tommaso Aldrovandini (1653–1736), Italian painter of ...

; the third chapel has marble decoration by Gaetano Sacco based on a design by

Giovan Domenico Vinaccia Giovan (Gian) Domenico Vinaccia (13 March 1625, Massa Lubrense - July 1695, Naples) was an Italian architect, goldsmith, engineer and sculptor. Life He learned sculpture and architecture from Dionisio Lazzari. His first surviving independent wo ...

and frescoes by Fasano and Solimena. In the first chapel on the left are canvases by

Charles Mellin Charles Mellin (1597, Nancy – 21 September 1649, Rome) was a French painter of the Baroque era. He was from Nancy, Lorraine, but spent his artistic career in Italy, where he was nicknamed ''Carlo Lorenese'' ("Charles the Lorrainer"). Life ...

; In the other chapels are the left are more paintings by Fasano. The altar was built by

Giovanni Ragozzino Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

based on a design by Solimena; it is flanked by an altarpiece by Luca Giordano. The dome was frescoed by

Agostino Beltrano Agostino Beltrano (died 1665) was an Italian painter active in the Baroque period in his native city of Naples. He was a pupil of Massimo Stanzione, the uncle of his wife, and is known to have been active in 1646. He is said to have murdered his 3 ...

. The ante-sacristy was decorated with stucco and frescoes by

Santolo Cirillo Santolo Cirillo (active first half of 18th century, died 1742) was an Italian painter, engraver, and stucco artist, active in Naples. He was born in Grumo Nevano, a town near Naples. He contributed frescoes and paintings the Cathedral of San Genna ...

. The sacristy has paintings by

Massimo Stanzione Massimo Stanzione (also called Stanzioni; 1585 – 1656) was an Italian Baroque painter, mainly active in Naples, where he and his rival Jusepe de Ribera dominated the painting scene for several decades. He was primarily a painter of altarpiece ...

and

, and two still-lifes from the 16th century.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Donnaregina Nuova Former churches in Naples Baroque architecture in Naples 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Burial sites of the Capetian House of Anjou