Abandoned Church in Naples

On our second last day in Naples, John and I decided to visit some of the churches and palaces outside the old northern walls of the city.

We got quite lost there and were ready to abandon our plan when we noticed  an open church at via Fuorti Porta San Gennaro, 15.

At the door we were welcomed by some young people who were part of a group which had  converted the abandoned church into an art exhibition and performance space.

The church had been abandoned since WW2 and was in a terrible state.

As there was no art currently installed we were able concentrate on the beauty of the decay.

We could see that the interior had once been covered in splendid late-Baroque stucco.

But the dilapidated surfaces were gorgeous -- really unique and quite stunning in their own way.

Noticing our enthusiasm for the church, the staff explained that the space was now managed as the SMMAVE (Santa Maria della Misericordia ai Vergini) Centre for Contemporary Art.

Massimo, the fellow on the left above, offered to give us a tour of the complex. We learned that he was a teacher of art history.

 He led us down into the lower, older, church which had been buried in a mud slide during floods in the 16th century and the present church built above it.

The upper church had used the lower level as a burial ground for the poor who had worked at an attached pilgrim hospice. The two squares in the floor were the burial sites.

The niches set in the walls were designed by the Napolitano architect, Ferdinando Sanfelice, in a flowing Baroque style to display the bones of the dead after their internment in the ground as in other catacombs in the neighbourhood.

One section has a deep crack that resulted from an earrthquake in the 19th century and exposes the walls of the fifteenth century original church.

In a roped-off area John found the illuminated main altar of the older church.

Its painting was in better condition than the paintings in the church above.

Then Massimo took us through an arch

and up an old stone staircase.

We arrived at a cloister on the ground level

adjoining the remains of the old pilgrim hospice.

The former-hospice rooms are now renovated and rented out as apartments. Can you imagine an apartment overlooking this ancient, open space? We'd move right in!

The restored and reused church, at the entrance to the Borgo dei Vergini area, is a treasure not to be missed. Our compliments and thanks to the SMMAVE group.