Description
The Church of Santi Severino e Sossio is a large Renaissance church in Naples, on Via Bartolommeo Capasso, near the lower decumanus, in the Pendino district. It belongs to one of the largest monasteries in the city, with three cloisters, and inside it holds a funerary chapel famous for three brothers sculpted seated on their sarcophagus.
The chapel is the Sanseverino Chapel, next to the high altar. Ippolita de Monti wanted it as a family pantheon, decorated between 1538 and 1548: the monument of the three brothers is by Giovanni da Nola.
The three young men died prematurely, poisoned by their uncle over an inheritance, and their mother did not want them lying down, but seated as if they were alive. She herself was buried there, lying on the floor in front of the monument.
The church is a Latin cross, about 80 meters long and 40 wide, with a single nave and seven chapels on each side. In the apse, the altar and the balustrade are by Cosimo Fanzago, and Belisario Corenzio frescoed the vault with Stories from the Old Testament.
The sixteenth-century wooden choir is the work of Bartolomeo Chiarini and Benvenuto Tortelli, and for years was a model for other choirs in the city, almost an encyclopedia of carvings.
The dome, from 1561, is one of the first raised in Naples. The frescoes on the vault of the nave, with scenes of Saint Benedict, and the Supper at the House of the Pharisee on the inner façade are by Francesco De Mura, and replace those by Corenzio that collapsed in the earthquake of 1731.
The side chapels host works by some of the most influential painters and sculptors of the Neapolitan sixteenth century: Marco Pino da Siena, Andrea da Salerno and the Cavalier d'Arpino. In the ante-sacristy the de Medici Chapel has walls covered in polychrome inlay, among the first examples in Naples. The sacristy preserves the most intact cycle by Onofrio De Lione.
From the monastery you reach the lower church, also called the succorpo, from the early sixteenth century, with one nave and five side chapels. The three cloisters house in about 300 rooms the State Archive of Naples.
In the second cloister, called the Cloister of the Plane Tree, twenty frescoes by Antonio Solario with the Stories of the Life of Saint Benedict are one of the most important artistic testimonies to the life of the saint. The first cloister, called the Marble Cloister, has white Carrara marble columns and, in the middle of the garden, a sculpture by Michelangelo Naccherino.
The monastery was founded by the Benedictines in the tenth century, who fled the hill of Pizzofalcone because of Saracen raids, bringing the relics of Saint Severinus. In 904 they also brought here those of Saint Sossius, companion in martyrdom of Saint Januarius. The present church was begun in 1490 by Giovanni Francesco Mormando and consecrated in 1571.
Don't miss
• The Sanseverino Chapel.
• The Cloister of the Plane Tree.
• The wooden choir.
• The de Medici Chapel.
Did you know?
• Belisario Corenzio, the painter of the vaults, died at 80 falling from the scaffolding while frescoing the church: his gravestone is in the floor.
• The plane tree in the cloister, according to tradition, was planted by Saint Benedict: its leaves were said to heal wounds. It was cut down in 1959.
• In 1594 Torquato Tasso stayed at the monastery, and a room bears his name.
The chapel is the Sanseverino Chapel, next to the high altar. Ippolita de Monti wanted it as a family pantheon, decorated between 1538 and 1548: the monument of the three brothers is by Giovanni da Nola.
The three young men died prematurely, poisoned by their uncle over an inheritance, and their mother did not want them lying down, but seated as if they were alive. She herself was buried there, lying on the floor in front of the monument.
The church is a Latin cross, about 80 meters long and 40 wide, with a single nave and seven chapels on each side. In the apse, the altar and the balustrade are by Cosimo Fanzago, and Belisario Corenzio frescoed the vault with Stories from the Old Testament.
The sixteenth-century wooden choir is the work of Bartolomeo Chiarini and Benvenuto Tortelli, and for years was a model for other choirs in the city, almost an encyclopedia of carvings.
The dome, from 1561, is one of the first raised in Naples. The frescoes on the vault of the nave, with scenes of Saint Benedict, and the Supper at the House of the Pharisee on the inner façade are by Francesco De Mura, and replace those by Corenzio that collapsed in the earthquake of 1731.
The side chapels host works by some of the most influential painters and sculptors of the Neapolitan sixteenth century: Marco Pino da Siena, Andrea da Salerno and the Cavalier d'Arpino. In the ante-sacristy the de Medici Chapel has walls covered in polychrome inlay, among the first examples in Naples. The sacristy preserves the most intact cycle by Onofrio De Lione.
From the monastery you reach the lower church, also called the succorpo, from the early sixteenth century, with one nave and five side chapels. The three cloisters house in about 300 rooms the State Archive of Naples.
In the second cloister, called the Cloister of the Plane Tree, twenty frescoes by Antonio Solario with the Stories of the Life of Saint Benedict are one of the most important artistic testimonies to the life of the saint. The first cloister, called the Marble Cloister, has white Carrara marble columns and, in the middle of the garden, a sculpture by Michelangelo Naccherino.
The monastery was founded by the Benedictines in the tenth century, who fled the hill of Pizzofalcone because of Saracen raids, bringing the relics of Saint Severinus. In 904 they also brought here those of Saint Sossius, companion in martyrdom of Saint Januarius. The present church was begun in 1490 by Giovanni Francesco Mormando and consecrated in 1571.
Don't miss
• The Sanseverino Chapel.
• The Cloister of the Plane Tree.
• The wooden choir.
• The de Medici Chapel.
Did you know?
• Belisario Corenzio, the painter of the vaults, died at 80 falling from the scaffolding while frescoing the church: his gravestone is in the floor.
• The plane tree in the cloister, according to tradition, was planted by Saint Benedict: its leaves were said to heal wounds. It was cut down in 1959.
• In 1594 Torquato Tasso stayed at the monastery, and a room bears his name.