Gesù Nuovo Church, Naples

The church of the New Jesus began in 1470 as a lay building and more precisely, as the home of Roberto Sanseverino, the prince of Salerno. The building is impressive and was built in an area at the edge of the city, at the beginning of the old inferior decuman gate. Following the so-called, "swearing in of the barons" which was plotted against the King Ferrante d'Aragona, the building was confiscated in 1497 due to the involvement of Antonello Sanseverino. In 1506 it was given to Prince Robert II of Sanseverino. We can still admire the sumptuous renaissance building of the Severini with its well preserved facade of piperno with diamond shapes. It was the work of Novello da San Lucano even if it has been tampered with in some places. In 1552 the building was confiscated again following the involvement of the Sanseverini during anti-Spanish tensions. In 1584 the Jesuits acquired the building and transformed it into the present day church dedicated to the the Immaculate one, better known by the name, "New Jesus". The church is in the shape of a Greek cross with three naves. the collapse of the cupola and this was reconstructed by Arcangelo Guglielmelli. It is particularly worth seeing the large fresco by Franceso Solimena on the reverse of the facade, "the purge of Eliodoro from the temple"; also the Burrello chapel with the sculptures of Cosimo Fanzago and Michelangelo Naccherino, as well as the altar by Cosimo Fanzago. 

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