Painters, architects, sculptors and archaeologists have written wonderful pages on the basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples. It is here, in the heart of the city of Naples, that the two souls of the city of Virgil and St. Gennaro join together, creating an amalgam of rare beauty. “It’s a monument to books. In the complex of San Lorenzo Maggiore one can read the history of Naples in clear letters. The Dna of Naples is to be found here” said Master Riccardo Muti, before a concert. This phrase perfectly describes the “pretty and beautiful temple” as Boccaccio called it. The  famous poet met Fiammetta, his inspiring muse, for the first time in this church in 1334 and always here, a few years later, Petrarch lived for a while.

The monumental complex of Piazza San Gaetano, which attracts thousands of visitors each year and hosts important events, represents a kind of “trait d’union”, a rare example of the continuity of life, which testimonies the plurisecular life of Naples. Above, stands the thirteenth-century church founded by Carlo d’Angiò. At the bottom,  lies what remains of an ancient Greek-Roman settlement. At the centre, as a symbolic “watershed”, are the ruins of a building dating back to the Norman domination. Three superimposed periods, joined into a unique, precious casket, to be discovered from top to bottom.

Near the eighteenth-century cloister of the basilica, is it possible to admire the ruins of the ancient Roman Macellum in the archaeological site of San Lorenzo Maggiore. The structure was arranged on terraces and has, in its center, a circular colonnade (tholos).

Through a modern staircase, it is possible to directly access the archaeologal site of San Lorenzo Maggiore, “The Buried Naples” from the cloister of the church. Here, at 7.8 meters underground, there is the ancient Forum of Neapolis and an old market which dates back to the 4th century BC. Other stratifications of the imperial age are to be found there.

The route runs along a narrow street (cardine), over which there are nine shops, each with two rooms. Originally, they may have hosted public offices, including the Aerarium, where the city treasury was guarded.  Following the decay of the Empire, they became small workshops such as bakeries and laundries.

At the end of the narrow street, on the right, there is an open cryptoportic (the covered market): the area is divided into small buildings. These are shops with masonry desks that were used for displaying the merchandise on sale. The final part of the “porch” is linked to a large vaulted environment where there is a late-Hellenistic hydraulic structure: it was used to channel the flow of rainwater. A little further away, immediately next to a tub, there is another complex: three large interconnecting rooms, with a mosaic floor and an impluvium in the central part of the house. It may have been a schola, which was, a building intended for meetings of religious or commercial associations. In this area there are also some wall remakes of the late antique medieval period.

The archaeological site of San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples was brought to light with a vast excavation campaign that began in the late seventies of the last century. Interrupted several times, the campaign was finally concluded in May 2009, thanks to the funding of the European Union. Many of the objects and finds recovered during the excavations are now on show in the adjacent Opera Museum, hosted in the bell tower of the Basilica, which is worth a visit.
(translate by Teresa Freddo)

INFO FOR THE ARCHAELOGICAL SITE OF SAN LORENZO MAGGIORE – THE BURIED NEAPOLIS
Monumental complex of San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples
Piazza San Gaetano, 316 – 80134 Naples.
EXCAVATION TICKETS: Ordinary: € 9,00 – € 7,00 Artecard, teachers, university students and over 65 – € 6,00 under 18 – € 4 school groups.
OPENING TIMES: every day 9:30 – 17:30.
INFO: Tel. 081.211.08.60 – 389.540.40.71
www.laneapolissotterrata.it
www.sanlorenzomaggiorenapoli.i

L'articolo The archaeological site of San Lorenzo Maggiore, the chest of Naples’ history proviene da Charme.

L'articolo (Italiano) Scavi di San Lorenzo Maggiore, visita la Neapolis Sotterrata per scoprire le origini di Napoli proviene da Charme.

L'articolo An App for San Lorenzo Maggiore and Neapolis Buried proviene da Charme.

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The Foundation “Doing church and town” – consisting of the Cardinal – is responsible for the appearance scientific/educational project, while the company Scabec spa has been identified by the Campania Region to put it into practice ensuring their implementation, organizational coordination and promotion.

The boys selected component, a total of six bands. It is, in particular, of:

– Associazione Centro Ester of Barra (Naples)

– Parish Church San Michele Arcangelo: Afragola (Salicelle district).

– Parish Church Santa Maria del Popolo: Torre del Greco-Herculaneum.

– Parish Church Santa Caterina a Formiello: Primo Decanato of Naples.

– Parish Church Maria Santissima del Buon Rimedio: Scampia (Naples).

– Parish Church Santa Maria della Misericordia: Capodimonte (Naples).

They were accompanied by the Youth Orchestra Sanitaensamble of Parish Church Santa Maria alla Sanità (Naples), created by the L’Altra Napoli association, and already active successfully, for some years on the music scene of Italy.

Each team will have its own color. The boys were selected according to a predisposition to music and an aptitude for band instruments. Each of them, by the teachers and pastors who follow them, received musical instruments and, a few days ago, started on the path of learning, aimed final exhibition in Piazza del Plebiscito.

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“He sings, plays and walk” is also a project of knowledge and appreciation of classical music and popular and traditional Neapolitan, through the landmarks of this excellence. The first appointment will in fact be May 4 at the Teatro di San Carlo with a concert for trumpet and violin artist Fabrizio Fabrizi and Fabrizio von Arx. For the first time the boys of the Bands with their families will attend a concert in one of the most beautiful theaters in the world, having visited accompanied by the superintendent Purchia. A “meeting” that will excite everyone, and that will mark the beginning of this adventure.

But there will also be a section of the project opened to the public, with a value of cultural offerings: it is a series of six classical music concerts to be held in monumental churches of Naples from the month of October and will be a dual time promotion, both of these beautiful places (there will, in fact, guided tours before the concert, even through the instrument Campania> Artecard Scabec that will provide) and the classical authors and its interpreters, really important not only Neapolitan music. In keeping with the scientific care of the “Making Church Foundation and the City”, the selection of bands that will perform in the monumental churches of Naples will take place with an expression of interest that Scabec will open in June.

The churches of the city of Naples deputies to host the concerts are:

Sant’Anna dei Lombardi

San Gregorio Armeno

Donnaregina Nuova

Carmine Maggiore

Finally, in the fall, a week after the Feast of San Gennaro, the Orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo will perform in the Cathedral of Naples, for a concert dedicated to young people and their passion for music.

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L'articolo Naples sings, plays and walks: 350 boys to music lessons proviene da Charme.

In front of Gesù Nuovo, right in the heart of Decumani, centre of the Greek and Roman Neapolis, stands the church of Santa Chiara, built near the old western walls (today piazza del Gesù Nuovo), between 1310 and 1340, thanks to Robert of Anjou and the queen Sancha of Aragon.

The complex was erected on the remains of Roman therms dated to the I century A.C., whose findings can be seen under the foundations of the monastery and into the halls of Museum of Opera di Santa Chiara, showing also findings of Angevin period (XIV century).

This church, sober and impressive, hosts the tomb of King Robert of Anjou, behind the high altar, and the Bourbon funerary chapel. Near the entrance there is the grave of Salvo d’Acquisto, the officer who during World War II saved a group a civilians from the Nazis at cost of his own life. The monastery is famous worldwide for the splendid majolica cloister, made in 1742 by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, who covered the entire structure and the 72 pillars with wonderful polychrome tiles, created by the Neapolitans “riggiolari” Donato e Giuseppe Massa.

Walking along the Decumani, there is another temple of Christian faith “made in Partenope”: the church of San Domenico Maggiore.

Built between 1283 and 1324 under King Charles II of Anjou on the remains of a X century church, it was restyled with Baroque taste, after being damaged by numerous earthquakes during the XV century. It is famous for the rectangular Sacristy, with marble floors and suggestive wooden details. It hosts 45 tombs of Neapolitan nobles, especially from the Aragona family. There are paintings by Tommaso De Vivo, Pietro Cavallini, Solimena and the marvellous high altar made by Cosimo Fanzago. In this church the poet Boccaccio studied law, but it was in a nearby church that the author of Decameron met the love of his life, Fiammetta, precisely in San Lorenzo Maggiore, set in via San Gregorio Armeno and “twin” of San Domenico because it was commissioned during the same period by King Charles of Anjou.

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Between 1600 and 1700 San Lorenzo was restyled according to Baroque taste, but the restorations of the XX century brought to light its original Gothic forms.

It has a striking 1700 façade, made by Ferdinando Sanfelice, with a XIV century marble portal, and it is enriched by numerous work of art, like the Tomb of Catherine of Austria, sculpted by Tino from Camaino (1323) and the Sant’Antonio Chapel, made by Cosimo Fanzago (1638).

In the Mercato area, where once stood the city walls, there is Santa Maria del Carmine. This church, with the highest bell tower of Naples (75 metres), was built at the beginning of 1300 on the foundations of a church where was venerated the icon of “Madonna Bruna”, a XIII century painting. There is the tomb of Conrad of Swabia, the last emperor of Sacred Roman Empire beheaded as a child in 1268 in piazza Mercato by King Charles of Anjou. In the cloister of this church was killed on 16 July 1647 the heroic fishmonger Masaniello. Every year on the 16^th of July, for the Madonna del Carmine festival, the bell tower is “burnt” by the means of fireworks to recall a Saracen siege foiled by the Christians. At the entrance, there is a wooden miraculous Christ, who in 1439 lowered his head to avoid a shot exploded during a siege made by Alfonso of Aragon.

Another wonderful church is San Giovanni a Carbonara, set triumphantly on the top of a stair made by Ferdinando Sanfelice (1707). It was build in 1343 by King Ladislao of Durazzo, whose 18 metres tomb stands behind the high altar, supported by the four Virtues. Finished at the beginning of XV century, this church was heavily damaged during World War II and restorations took place along the XX century. It has a precious XV century majolica floor and hosts frescoes made in 1400 by Perrinetto from Benevento and Leonardo from Besozzo. The chapel Caracciolo di Vico has richly decorated marble floor and a wide lacunar dome.

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Last but not least, the church of San Filippo Neri, the inventor of the devotion of seven churches, called also “dei Girolamini”, set on via Tribunali. It is part of a complex hosting an important picture-gallery dating to the end of 1500. The project bears the signature of Giovanni Antonio Dosio, a Florentine just like the architect Ferdinando Fuga, who started the works in 1592.

Inside the church there are paintings by Pietro from Cortona and Guido Reni, sculptures by Bernini and a fresco made by Luca Giordano. It is also called “Domus Aurea” for its sparkling Baroque golden decoration. It hosts the tomb of philosopher Giambattista Vico, who worked into the famous library of the Oratorio, which counts more than 60.000 books.

L'articolo Naples and its churches in the holy walk of Easter proviene da Charme.

Recall that the sacred building , which houses the tomb inside the architect Domenico Fontana , is dedicated to one of the most prominent holy figures of Christianity which is Sant’Anna, indicated by the evangelical tradition as the mother of the Virgin Mary and venerated for his bliss.

Still, it continues with a stop in another historical place of the city: the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore in the heart of Piazza San Gaetano, where once stood the ancient greek agorà.
It is said that among its Gothic walls, the Florentine poet Giovanni Boccaccio met for the first time the beloved Fiammetta, a muse for many of his poems.
Leaving behind the amorous exploits of the author of the Decameron, we find ourselves before the impressive theatrical performance in which the actor will play Max Cataliotti some poetic songs.

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Finally, we will face the ultimate and fascinating destination of the journey made ​​in Partenope: the cloister of San Gregorio Armeno.
The monumental structure located in the homonymous complex of via SpaccaNapoli, has for centuries been denied citizenship and open to the public only in 1922 when, thanks to the Basilian nuns, there were carried out the relics of the patron saint of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

We now move in the picturesque volcanic area of ​​Campi Flegrei, next destination for the day on March 8. Here, directly in the conference room of the magnificent Aragonese Castle of Baia, there will be a real treasure hunt , organized by the Archaeological Group Kyme, and the natural complex “Ramo d’oro”.

The object dell’affannosa research will be nothing less than the treasure of Campi Flegrei, a box consisting of 78 ink drawings made ​​by the young artist Campania Marco Capuano.
It is a real treat their art with sketches all accompanied by captions and two introductions of the author, by Dr. Pierfrancesco Talamo office excavations of the Castle of Baia and Dr. Paolo Caputo office excavations of Cuma.

The proceeds of the event and the sale of caskets, will be used to contribute to the enhancement of archaeological sites in the area flegreo agreement and with the permission of the Archaeological Superintendence.

“Stories of women ,saints, virgins and commoners”
Saturday, March 8th 10.30 am
appointment at the entrance of the church of Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto ( Sant’Anna dei Lombardi).
Reservation number 342.1515905 or mail to: segreteria@officinadellemuse.info

“Casket of the treasures of the Campi Flegrei”
Saturday, March 8th 10.30 am
Conference Room of the Castle of Baia
Contact: 3343329500

L'articolo So the city of Partenope pays tribute to the fairer sex proviene da Charme.