San Giovanni Maggiore: Architecture and Art at the Gates of Ancient Naples

Publisher: FedOA Press (Federico II University Press). 

Series: UrbsHistoriaeImago. Storia e immagine dei territori, dei centri urbani e delle architetture. 

Pages: 224. 

Language: Italian; English

NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/urn:nbn:it:unina-22024

Abstract: An examination of the literature sources, of the archival documents, of the iconographic and cartographic repertoire to reconstruct the key moments of the fascinating architectural and artistic history of one of the most famous monuments of our city. The Basilica of San Giovanni Maggiore is now the result of often ominous and even criminal events, or of some imprudent interventions, that the recent renovations have been able to remedy only partially. Nevertheless, thanks to the constant care and to the appropriate use by the Engineers Order of Naples, it has been lately given back to the city: not only as an important place of worship, but also as a cultural center and a social gathering site, placed in such a significant area of the historic center of Naples, UNESCO World Heritage since 1995. The architectural and artistic analysis of the Basilica has been preceded by a description of urban history in late Antiquity and in the early Middle Ages; it had its fulcrum in the hill of Monterone, now largo of San Giovanni Maggiore, with an irregular and tortuous web, preserved up to us. This work proposes in the second part an updated summary analysis of existing artistic works in the Basilica, as well as those placed in some other locations in order to be preserved or restored.

Index       

Preface                                    6

Luigi Vinci

Introduction                             10

Chapter 1                                 15

Between sea and antique city

Alfredo Buccaro

1. Development of early medieval Naples
2. The Basilica in urban-historic context

Chapter 2                                 41

The architecture

Alfredo Buccaro

1. The origins of the building and the ancient evidence
2. The Christian and early medieval basilica
3. Transformations of the church in the 1300s
4. Construction events in the 15th and 16th centuries
5. The great works of the 1600s and 1700s: the cupola by Dionisio Lazzari and new altar by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro
6. 19th century interventions and recent restorations

Chapter 3                                 115

The interiors and artworks

Raffaele Ruggiero

1. The left nave
2. The Chapel of the Confraternity of the Sixty-Six Priests
3. The Chapel of the Confraternity of “Whites of the Holy Sacrament”
4. The transept
5. The right nave and counter-facade
6. Other works originating from the Basilica
7. The Neapolitan marble calendar

 Bibliography                           215