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Campania / Italy

Campania is an administrative region of Italy. Located on the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, with the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west, it includes the small Phlegraean Islands and Capri for administration as part of the region. As of 2018, the region has a population of around 5,820,000 people, making it the third-most-populous region in the country; its total area of 13,590 km2 makes it the most densely populated region in Italy. Campania is the most productive region in southern Italy by GDP, with Naples' urban area being the 7th-most populous in the European Union. The region is home to 10 of the 55 UNESCO sites in Italy, like Pompeii and Herculaneum, the Royal Palace of Caserta, the Amalfi Coast and the Historic Centre of Naples. Moreover, Mount Vesuvius is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.Coastal areas in the region were colonised by the Ancient Greeks between the 8th and 7th centuries BC, becoming part of the so-called Magna Graecia. The leading city of Campania at this time was Capua, with Naples being a Greek-speaking anomaly. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regard to gastronomy, music, architecture, and the presence of archaeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Paestum, Aeclanum, Stabiae, and Velia. The name of Campania is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, which translates into English as "fertile countryside" or "happy countryside". The rich natural beauty of Campania makes it highly important in the tourism industry, with the city of Naples, the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius, and the islands of Capri and Ischia continuing to be major attractions.

San Domenico Maggiore

Campania / Italy

San Domenico Maggiore is a Gothic, Roman Catholic church and monastery, founded by the friars of the Dominican Order, and located in the square of the same name in the historic center of Naples.

San Giacomo degli Spagnoli, Naples

Campania / Italy

San Giacomo degli Spagnoli is a basilica church in Piazza Municipio in central Naples, Italy. The Renaissance church was enveloped in 1812 by the Palazzo San Giacomo built by King Ferdinand I of Bourbon when he built a central block of offices for the ministries of his government adjacent to the fortress of the Castel Nuovo. The Palazzo San Giacomo is now the municipio or city hall of Naples. Another church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli is found in Rome. The original church was commissioned in 1540 by the Spanish viceroy Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca and associated with the adjacent hospital for the poor. The church was dedicated to St James, the patron saint of Spain, and designed by Ferdinando Manlio. The construction of the Palazzo San Giacomo did away with the facade, but retained the internal layout of three naves and a tall central ceiling. The interior still retains a number of monumental tombs, including for the viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo, his wife and son, sculpted in 1570 by Giovanni da Nola. Near the entrance are two sculptures by Francesco Cassano. In addition the tomb of Ferdinando Maiorca and his wife Porzia Coniglia in the apse was completed by Michelangelo Naccherino. The tomb of Alfonso Basurto, was carved by Annibale Caccavello and Giovanni Domenico D'Auria. The church was elevated to the status of basilica in 1911 but then suffered damage during the bombing of World War II. It is now rarely opened to the public.

San Lorenzo Maggiore, Naples

Campania / Italy

San Lorenzo Maggiore is a church in Naples, Italy. It is located at the precise geographic center of the historic center of the ancient Greek-Roman city, at the intersection of via San Gregorio Armeno and via dei Tribunali. The name "San Lorenzo" may also refer to the new museum now opened on the premises, as well as to the ancient Roman market beneath the church itself, the Macellum of Naples. The church's origins derive from the presence of the Franciscan order in Naples during the lifetime of St Francis of Assisi, himself. The site of the present church was to compensate the order for the loss of their earlier church on the grounds where Charles I of Anjou decided to build his new fortress, the Maschio Angioino in the late 13th century. San Lorenzo actually is a church plus monastery. The new museum takes up the three floors above the courtyard and is given over to the entire history of the area that centers on San Lorenzo, beginning with classical archaeology and progressing to a chart display of historical shipping routes from Naples throughout Magna Grecia and the Roman Empire. The museum provides a detailed account of the local "city hall" that was demolished in order to put up the church in the 13th century and continues up past the Angevin period and into more recent history. Beneath San Lorenzo, about half of an original Roman market has been excavated. The site has been open since 1992, the result of 25 years of painstaking excavation. The market place is the only large-scale Greek-Roman site excavated in the downtown area. In this church Boccaccio met his beloved Fiammetta .

San Paolo Maggiore

Campania / Italy

San Paolo Maggiore is a basilica church in Naples, southern Italy, and the burial place of Gaetano Thiene, known as Saint Cajetan, founder of the Order of Clerics Regular . It is located on Piazza Gaetano, about 1-2 blocks north of Via dei Tribunali.

Naples Cathedral

Campania / Italy

Naples Cathedral or The Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, is a Roman Catholic cathedral, the main church of Naples, southern Italy, and the seat of the Archbishop of Naples. It is widely known as the Cattedrale di San Gennaro, in honour of Saint Januarius, the city's patron saint.

San Pietro a Majella

Campania / Italy

San Pietro a Majella is a church in Naples, Italy. The term may also refer to the adjacent Naples music conservatory, which occupies the premises of the monastery that used to form a single complex with the church. The church stands at the western end of Via dei Tribunali, one of the three parallel streets that define the grid of the historic center of Naples; the church is considered one of the most significant examples of Angevin architecture in Naples and was built at the wishes of Giovanni Pipino da Barletta, one of the knights of Charles II of Anjou and the one responsible for destroying the last Saracen colony on the southern peninsula, in Lucera. San Pietro a Majella was built in the early 14th century and was named for and dedicated to Pietro Angeleri da Morone, a hermit monk from Maiella who became Pope Celestine V in 1294. He was the founder of the Celestine monastic order, which occupied the church until 1799, when monasteries were suppressed by the Neapolitan Republic. After the restoration of the monarchy, the monastery was reopened, but in 1826 was converted to house the San Pietro a Maiella Conservatory, a function it preserves. The church underwent restoration in the 1930s and remains an open and active house of worship. As was the case with much Angevin architecture in Naples, San Pietro a Majella underwent a Baroque make-over by the Spanish in the 17th century, but 20th-century restoration attempted to "undo" that and to restore the building to its original Gothic appearance.

Sant'Agostino alla Zecca

Campania / Italy

Sant Agostino alla Zecca, also known as Sant'Agostino Maggiore is a church in central Naples, Italy. Originally granted to the Augustinian monks by Robert I of Anjou in 1259. The church underwent extensive reconstruction in the Baroque period by Bartolomeo Picchiati. Its name derives from its location near the former mint. Since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, it has been closed and is in a poor state of conservation. The interior has frescoes of Giacinto Diano in the Sacristy.

Sant'Angelo a Nilo

Campania / Italy

Sant'Angelo a Nilo is a Roman Catholic church located on the Decumano Inferiore in Naples, Italy. It stands diagonally across from San Domenico Maggiore in Naples. It is known for containing the monumental Renaissance-style tomb of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci by Donatello and Michelozzo, one of the major sculptural works in the city.