Duomo di Napoli
Napoli
FamousSacred art
The story
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.
Access
church FREE, museum €
The story
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, the Duomo of Naples, is the mother church of the city and a palimpsest of styles, from fourteenth-century Gothic to the nineteenth-century neo-Gothic of the façade. It incorporates two older buildings: the basilica of Santa Restituta, with the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte — the oldest in the West —, and the royal chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro (Saint Januarius).
What to see
Besides the naves and Santa Restituta with its early-Christian baptistery, the Duomo is the setting of the rite that brings the city to a halt: the liquefaction of the blood of San Gennaro, patron saint of Naples, which recurs three times a year. The saint's relics are kept in the sumptuous chapel of the Treasure.
Tips
Admission to the cathedral is separate from that of some sections (such as the baptistery): check hours and arrangements on site and on the official channels, bearing in mind that it is an active place of worship. You are on the main decumanus, in the heart of the old centre.
Frequently asked questions
What is the liquefaction of the blood of San Gennaro?
The rite, repeated three times a year in the Duomo of Naples, in which people await the liquefaction of the patron saint's blood kept in an ampoule; it is deeply felt by Neapolitans.
What does the Duomo of Naples hold?
The basilica of Santa Restituta with the oldest baptistery in the West, and the royal chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro with the saint's relics.
Where is the Duomo of Naples?
Along via Duomo, in the old centre, on the main decumanus.
More gems in Napoli
Sacred artCappella Sansevero (Cristo Velato)
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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 artCappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro
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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.
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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.
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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 artChiesa di Santa Luciella ai Librai (teschio con le orecchie)
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In the crypt of a small church rediscovered in the maze of the Librai rests the skull with ears, which the faithful believed could listen to their prayers.
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The street of the presepe (nativity scene) masters, where terracotta shepherds are shaped all year round and the alley smells of glue and wood beneath Baroque bell towers.
More gems: Sacred art
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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.
Sacred artPio Monte della Misericordia
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Above the altar of an octagonal church still hangs, exactly where Caravaggio painted it, his Sette opere di Misericordia: a single canvas holding all the charity in the world.
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via Toledo
Eight terracotta figures mourn the dead Christ with faces of piercing grief, while in the sacristy frescoed by Vasari the ceiling fills with constellations and virtues.
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A double forceps-shaped flight of stairs leads up to the church, inside which the monumental tomb of King Ladislao rises like a tower of marble.
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The oldest of the Neapolitan spires, raised in thanksgiving to the patron saint who is said to have halted the lava of Vesuvius, his bronze statue keeping watch beside the Duomo.
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Beyond the white facade open one of the oldest libraries in Naples and a silent picture gallery, among wooden shelves and canvases hung by the Oratorian fathers.