Description
The Church of the Girolamini, or of San Filippo Neri, is a large church built between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries opposite the Cathedral of Naples. Gold, marble and mother-of-pearl earned it the nickname Domus aurea, and inside are canvases by Luca Giordano, Guido Reni, Pietro da Cortona and Solimena.
The façade dates from 1780, by Ferdinando Fuga, in white marble and bardiglio. On the sides are two twin bell towers with clocks, one solar and one of six hours, and above the central portal a group by Giuseppe Sanmartino with Moses and Aaron holding the tablets of the commandments in Hebrew. At the top, the Madonna della Vallicella.
The interior is a Latin cross, with three naves divided by twelve granite columns from the island of Giglio: 68 meters long and 28 wide, among the largest places of worship in Naples. On the inner façade Luca Giordano painted in 1684 the Expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple.
The coffered ceiling, decorated in 1627, shows the Glory of Saint Philip. On either side of the apse stand two Torch-Bearing Angels by Giuseppe Sanmartino, in Carrara marble, sculpted in 1787.
There are eleven side chapels. The Chapel of Saint Charles Borromeo has a cycle by Luca Giordano from 1704, shortly before his death, dedicated to the meeting between Saint Charles and Saint Philip Neri.
In that of Saint Francis is the Saint Francis in Ecstasy by Guido Reni, from 1622. And in the Chapel of Saint Agnes Giordano painted Saint Januarius in the Amphitheater, with one foot on the head of the tamed beasts and the glow of the furnace behind him.
The great chapel of the Nativity, from the early seventeenth century, has sculptures by Pietro Bernini and the altarpiece by Pomarancio. One chapel has the Dying Saint Alexis by Pietro da Cortona, another the Epiphany by Belisario Corenzio. In the sacristy, a fresco on the vault with Saint Philip in glory measures more than seven meters by four.
Behind the high altar, under the sacristy, is the crypt, with a room full of bones: the skulls were objects of worship, and notes with requests from the faithful can still be found there, as at the Fontanelle cemetery.
The story begins in 1586, when the followers of Saint Philip Neri arrived in Naples. They were called Girolamini because the first oratory had been born in Rome at San Girolamo della Carità. They bought the Seripando palace, opposite the Cathedral, and in 1592 Domenico Fontana created the square.
The church was designed by the Florentine Giovanni Antonio Dosio and finished in 1619.
Next to it is the convent, with the first public picture gallery in Naples and the oldest public library in the city, frequented by Giambattista Vico, who donated to it the first editions of his works. A plaque on the colonnade remembers the philosopher: according to the old guides, he is buried under the Chapel of Saint Agnes.
Don't miss
• Luca Giordano's Expulsion of the Merchants.
• Guido Reni's Saint Francis in Ecstasy.
• Sanmartino's Angels.
• The cycle of Saint Charles Borromeo.
Did you know?
• Until 1907 Correggio's Saint Anthony Abbot hung here, later moved to the Capodimonte museum.
• The church reopened in 2009 after more than thirty years of closure.
The façade dates from 1780, by Ferdinando Fuga, in white marble and bardiglio. On the sides are two twin bell towers with clocks, one solar and one of six hours, and above the central portal a group by Giuseppe Sanmartino with Moses and Aaron holding the tablets of the commandments in Hebrew. At the top, the Madonna della Vallicella.
The interior is a Latin cross, with three naves divided by twelve granite columns from the island of Giglio: 68 meters long and 28 wide, among the largest places of worship in Naples. On the inner façade Luca Giordano painted in 1684 the Expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple.
The coffered ceiling, decorated in 1627, shows the Glory of Saint Philip. On either side of the apse stand two Torch-Bearing Angels by Giuseppe Sanmartino, in Carrara marble, sculpted in 1787.
There are eleven side chapels. The Chapel of Saint Charles Borromeo has a cycle by Luca Giordano from 1704, shortly before his death, dedicated to the meeting between Saint Charles and Saint Philip Neri.
In that of Saint Francis is the Saint Francis in Ecstasy by Guido Reni, from 1622. And in the Chapel of Saint Agnes Giordano painted Saint Januarius in the Amphitheater, with one foot on the head of the tamed beasts and the glow of the furnace behind him.
The great chapel of the Nativity, from the early seventeenth century, has sculptures by Pietro Bernini and the altarpiece by Pomarancio. One chapel has the Dying Saint Alexis by Pietro da Cortona, another the Epiphany by Belisario Corenzio. In the sacristy, a fresco on the vault with Saint Philip in glory measures more than seven meters by four.
Behind the high altar, under the sacristy, is the crypt, with a room full of bones: the skulls were objects of worship, and notes with requests from the faithful can still be found there, as at the Fontanelle cemetery.
The story begins in 1586, when the followers of Saint Philip Neri arrived in Naples. They were called Girolamini because the first oratory had been born in Rome at San Girolamo della Carità. They bought the Seripando palace, opposite the Cathedral, and in 1592 Domenico Fontana created the square.
The church was designed by the Florentine Giovanni Antonio Dosio and finished in 1619.
Next to it is the convent, with the first public picture gallery in Naples and the oldest public library in the city, frequented by Giambattista Vico, who donated to it the first editions of his works. A plaque on the colonnade remembers the philosopher: according to the old guides, he is buried under the Chapel of Saint Agnes.
Don't miss
• Luca Giordano's Expulsion of the Merchants.
• Guido Reni's Saint Francis in Ecstasy.
• Sanmartino's Angels.
• The cycle of Saint Charles Borromeo.
Did you know?
• Until 1907 Correggio's Saint Anthony Abbot hung here, later moved to the Capodimonte museum.
• The church reopened in 2009 after more than thirty years of closure.