Description
The Basilica of the Incoronata Madre del Buon Consiglio is a large twentieth-century church in Capodimonte, Naples, built on the model of St. Peter's in Rome: same dome, same façade, same interiors. Neapolitans call it "the little St. Peter's" and it can be seen from afar, above the Catacombs of San Gennaro.
In the forecourt, before going in, there is already something to see: the great bust of San Gennaro by Lello Esposito, more than four meters tall, marks the monumental entrance to the catacombs. Beside it, on the right, the Duchess's fountain was commissioned by Elena of Aosta.
Inside, the basilica has the breadth of a Roman temple. On the eighteenth-century high altar are eight statues of the Apostles: six are by Michelangelo Naccherino, the other two by Pietro Bernini and Francesco Cassano, and all come from the demolished church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini.
Many paintings too come from destroyed or unsafe churches. On the inner façade is the Coronation of the Virgin by Giovanni Battista Beinaschi, with the Nativity by Giovanni Balducci on the left and the Deposition by Marco Pino on the right.
In the chapels are a Death of Saint Joseph by Francesco Solimena, a Saint Anthony by Carlo Sellitto and a Virgin surrounded by apostles by Fabrizio Santafede. In the Chapel of the Pietà rest Elena and Anna of Orléans, duchesses of Aosta, and in other chapels the cardinals Ascalesi, Ursi and Giordano.
The church owes its existence to a woman, Maria di Gesù Landi, born in Naples in 1861. In 1884 she had an image of the Mother of Good Counsel painted. According to legend, when she showed it to the people, the cholera epidemic stopped at once.
In 1906, with the city covered in ash from Vesuvius, she displayed the picture from the balcony and a ray of sunlight lit it: a few days later the eruption ended.
In 1912 Pope Pius X crowned the image, and the temple arose where, she said, the Virgin had asked for it: on the mass of tuff in which, centuries before, the Catacombs of San Gennaro had been dug. The title "Queen of the Catholic Church" was said to have been suggested to her by the Virgin in 1910.
The works, to a design by Vincenzo Veccia, lasted forty years, from 1920 to 1960. The effigy was brought inside in 1938, with the basilica still under construction, and in 1980 John Paul II raised it to minor basilica. Marble columns from the portico of the old Central Station were also used to build it.
Don't miss
• The dome and façade inspired by St. Peter's.
• The statues of the Apostles on the high altar.
• The bust of San Gennaro in the forecourt.
• Solimena's Death of Saint Joseph.
Did you know?
• In the 1980 earthquake the statue of the Madonna on the façade broke and the bust fell onto the steps without hurting anyone: a slab at the entrance recalls the episode.
• The basilica has a Tamburini organ from 1964 and a Baroque organ from 1769.
In the forecourt, before going in, there is already something to see: the great bust of San Gennaro by Lello Esposito, more than four meters tall, marks the monumental entrance to the catacombs. Beside it, on the right, the Duchess's fountain was commissioned by Elena of Aosta.
Inside, the basilica has the breadth of a Roman temple. On the eighteenth-century high altar are eight statues of the Apostles: six are by Michelangelo Naccherino, the other two by Pietro Bernini and Francesco Cassano, and all come from the demolished church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini.
Many paintings too come from destroyed or unsafe churches. On the inner façade is the Coronation of the Virgin by Giovanni Battista Beinaschi, with the Nativity by Giovanni Balducci on the left and the Deposition by Marco Pino on the right.
In the chapels are a Death of Saint Joseph by Francesco Solimena, a Saint Anthony by Carlo Sellitto and a Virgin surrounded by apostles by Fabrizio Santafede. In the Chapel of the Pietà rest Elena and Anna of Orléans, duchesses of Aosta, and in other chapels the cardinals Ascalesi, Ursi and Giordano.
The church owes its existence to a woman, Maria di Gesù Landi, born in Naples in 1861. In 1884 she had an image of the Mother of Good Counsel painted. According to legend, when she showed it to the people, the cholera epidemic stopped at once.
In 1906, with the city covered in ash from Vesuvius, she displayed the picture from the balcony and a ray of sunlight lit it: a few days later the eruption ended.
In 1912 Pope Pius X crowned the image, and the temple arose where, she said, the Virgin had asked for it: on the mass of tuff in which, centuries before, the Catacombs of San Gennaro had been dug. The title "Queen of the Catholic Church" was said to have been suggested to her by the Virgin in 1910.
The works, to a design by Vincenzo Veccia, lasted forty years, from 1920 to 1960. The effigy was brought inside in 1938, with the basilica still under construction, and in 1980 John Paul II raised it to minor basilica. Marble columns from the portico of the old Central Station were also used to build it.
Don't miss
• The dome and façade inspired by St. Peter's.
• The statues of the Apostles on the high altar.
• The bust of San Gennaro in the forecourt.
• Solimena's Death of Saint Joseph.
Did you know?
• In the 1980 earthquake the statue of the Madonna on the façade broke and the bust fell onto the steps without hurting anyone: a slab at the entrance recalls the episode.
• The basilica has a Tamburini organ from 1964 and a Baroque organ from 1769.