San Pietro a Majella

Church of San Pietro a Majella
Chiesa di San Pietro a Majella

Side façade with bell.
Coordinates: 40°50′58″N 14°15′11″E / 40.849518°N 14.252974°E / 40.849518; 14.252974
Location Naples
Province of Naples, Campania
Country Italy
Denomination Roman Catholic
Architecture
Status Active
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic architecture
Administration
Diocese Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples

San Pietro a Majella is a church in Naples, Italy. The term may also refer to the adjacent Naples music conservatory, which occupies the premises of the monastery that used to form a single complex with the church.

The church stands at the western end of Via dei Tribunali, one of the three parallel streets that define the grid of the historic center of Naples; the church is considered one of the most significant examples of Angevin architecture in Naples and was built at the wishes of Giovanni Pippino da Barletta, one of the knights of Charles II of Anjou and the one responsible for destroying the last Saracen colony on the southern peninsula, in Lucera.

San Pietro a Majella was built in the early 14th century and was named for and dedicated to Pietro Angeleri da Morone, a hermit monk from Maiella (near Sulmona) who became Pope Celestine V in 1294. He was the founder of the Celestine monastic order, which occupied the church until 1799, when monasteries were suppressed by the Neapolitan Republic. After the restoration of the monarchy, the monastery was reopened, but in 1826 was converted to house the San Pietro a Maiella Conservatory, a function it preserves. The church underwent restoration in the 1930s and remains an open and active house of worship.

As was the case with much Angevin architecture in Naples, San Pietro a Majella underwent a Baroque make-over by the Spanish in the 17th century, but 20th-century restoration attempted to "undo" that and to restore the building to its original Gothic appearance.

Interior

The interior has three naves, separated by pillars supporting Gothic arches, with nine lateral chapels, plus four on each side of the chancel, and transept. The 14th century tomb of Pepino di Barletta, architect of the church, is placed on the counter-façade. The tomb was designed by Giovanni Barrile, while the tombs of Petra family members are by the Neapolitan sculptor Lorenzo Vaccaro.

The main altar was completed in the seventeenth-century, built by Cosimo Fanzago, and Pietro and Bartolomeo Ghetti, is decorated with large vases and candlesticks in silver and preceded by a balustrade covered in polychrome marbles. It stands on it a fifteenth-century wooden crucifix, while behind there are frescoes of the 17th century and 16th century sculptures.

ceiling of the nave

The ceiling of the nave, with drawers, and the transept feature paintings by Mattia Preti depicting Episodes from the life of St. Peter Celestine and Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1657-1659).

The works on the nave, starting from the entrance, are:

  1. Accompanied by Charles II of Anjou with the Cross, St Peter Celestine the hermit becomes Pope
  2. St Peter Celestine in prayer at the Maiella church
  3. Glory of St Peter Celestine in papal robes, accompanied by St. Benedict
  4. St Peter Celestine in prayer at the Maiella church, suffering temptation
  5. The saint with the tiara in hand, in the act of making the great refusal

The works of the transept, from left to right, are:

  1. St Catherine defends her faith in dispute with the sophists
  2. Develops stigmata in prison and assisted by the angels
  3. Beheading of the saint in front of the tyrant Maxentius
  4. Mystic Marriage of St Catherine
  5. Lifeless body of the saint, strewn with roses, is taken to heaven by angels

Chapels

The right aisle
fourteenth-century frescoes of the chapel Lioness

Notes

    Sources

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