Chiesa di Santa Maria della Sanità
Sanità
Hidden gemSacred art
The story
Fra Nuvolo's basilica keeps watch over the quarter it gives its name to: dedicated to San Vincenzo, 'o Munacone to Neapolitans, it holds the Catacombe di San Gaudioso beneath it.
Access
FREE / € catacombs
The story
The Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità, in the heart of the district that gives it its name, rises above the catacombs of San Gaudioso. It was built from 1577, after the finding in that area of an ancient image of the Madonna (fifth–sixth century). Designed by Fra Nuvolo on an unusual Greek-cross plan, it is one of the great churches of the Neapolitan seventeenth century, also known as San Vincenzo for the venerated statue of the saint, ''o Munacone'.
What to see
The monumental interior with the dome and the seventeenth-century works of art; and, beneath the altar, the access to the catacombs of San Gaudioso. It is the religious heart of the Sanità and the starting point for discovering the district and its subsoil.
Tips
From the basilica the visit to the catacombs of San Gaudioso generally sets off: find out about hours and arrangements on the official channels. It is a place of worship: suitable dress. An excellent starting point for a tour of the Rione Sanità.
Frequently asked questions
What is beneath the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità?
The catacombs of San Gaudioso, an early-Christian cemetery area whose visit generally sets off from the basilica.
Why was the basilica built?
After the finding, in the sixteenth century, of an ancient image of the Madonna in the area of the catacombs; the church was built from 1577.
How is the basilica also known?
As the church of San Vincenzo alla Sanità, for the venerated statue of the saint called ''o Munacone'.
More gems in Sanità
History & archaeologyIpogei dei Cristallini
Sanità
Twelve metres below the Rione Sanità, Greek tombs of the 4th century BC with frescoes intact — Egyptian blues and trompe-l'oeil: Hellenistic Neapolis found again in a baron's garden.
History & archaeologyPalazzo Sanfelice
Sanità
In the heart of the Sanità, Ferdinando Sanfelice signed his hawk-wing staircase: a baroque set piece of open flights, chosen again and again by the cinema for its theatrical sweep.
◆ Sacred artBasilica di San Gennaro extra Moenia
Sanità
Outside the ancient walls, beside the catacombs that once held the body of San Gennaro: one of the oldest churches in Naples, in the shade of the Capodimonte hill.
- ◆ Sacred art
Presepe Favoloso
Sanità
In the sacristy of the basilica of the Sanità the Scuotto brothers have lit up more than a hundred figures: a presepe (nativity scene) where eighteenth-century tradition and fairy tale interlace, suspended between the sacred and sheer wonder.
More gems: Sacred art
Sacred artCappella Sansevero (Cristo Velato)
Napoli (NA)
Beneath a veil of marble that still seems to breathe, Sanmartino's Cristo Velato rests in the chapel's half-light, and the whiteness of the stone deceives every eye.
Sacred artDuomo di Napoli
Napoli
Three times a year the city holds its breath as the blood of San Gennaro waits to liquefy, among Gothic naves and the gold of the chapel devoted to him.
Sacred artCappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro
Napoli
Behind a bronze gate lie silverware, gems and the jewel-studded mitre of the saint: a treasure heaped up over centuries by the devotion of Naples.
Sacred artChiesa del Gesù Nuovo
Napoli
The facade of pyramid-cut piperno stone hides symbols carved into the blocks, while inside the Baroque bursts out in marble and in the memory of the physician Giuseppe Moscati.
Sacred artChiostro di Santa Chiara
Napoli
A garden of pillars clad in yellow and blue majolica, where lemon pergolas and eighteenth-century scenes painted on the tiles keep the noise of the city at bay.
Sacred artSanta Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco
Via Tribunali 39
Bronze skulls stand guard at the entrance, and down in the hypogeum the cult of the anime pezzentelle (adopted souls of the dead) still leaves flowers and prayers beside abandoned crania.