Santa Croce e Purgatorio al Mercato is a church in the center of the

Piazza Mercato A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

, in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy. A religious building has stood at this site since the 13th century when

Conradin Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (, ), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke of Swabia (1254–1268) and nominal King ...

of Swabia was decapitated by orders of

Charles I d'Anjou Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou or Charles d'Anjou, was King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285. He was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the House of Anjou-Sicily. Between 1246 an ...

, on October 29, 1268. A porphyry column at the site read: ''Asturis ungue, leo pullum rapiens aquilinum; hic deplumavit acephalumque dedit'' which loosely translates: ''At the point of Astura, the lion seized the eagle, here without feathers, gave his head''. This references the capture of Conradin (eagle) by the Angevin (Lion) at the

Torre Astura 260px, The medieval coastal Tower of the Frangipani. Torre Astura, formerly an island called by the ancients merely Astura (Greek: ), is now a peninsula in the ''comune'' of Nettuno, on the coast of Latium, Italy, at the southeast extremity of ...

, and subsequent beheading here without honor. In 1786 it was reconstructed by Francesco Sicuro, and again in 1781, after a fire destroyed the piazza and church. The church was damaged by the earthquake in 1980, and has been closed since then. Originally the church held paintings by

Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Early l ...

, but these have been transferred to the Museo Civico di Castel Nuovo.

Bibliography

* Vincenzo Regina, ''Le chiese di Napoli. Viaggio indimenticabile attraverso la storia artistica, architettonica, letteraria, civile e spirituale della Napoli sacra'', Newton e Compton editor, Naples, 2004.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croce al Mercato Naples 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Baroque architecture in Naples Former churches in Naples