The San Pietro Martire Church is located in the Corso Umberto I in Naples. Highlights of this church include the cloister and the San Vincenzo Ferrer Chapel. The church features a striking ochre-colored dome. The official address is in the Piazza Ruggero Bonghi.
San Pietro Martire Church Naples
Useful information
Address: Piazza Ruggiero Bonghi, 1 – Napoli. Phone: +39 081 5526855 . Opening hours: From 07:00 to 13:00 and from 17:00 to 19:00. Entrance fee: Free of charge.
History
The Chiesa di San Pietro Martire was commissioned by the House of Anjou in 1294. When the church was completed in 1347, they gave the building to the Domenican Monastic Order.
The marble portal by Giovanni Capuano also dates from this year.
After a fire in 1423 and an earthquake in 1456, it was necessary to carry out renovations. These renovations gave the church an appearance leaning toward a Renaissance style architecture.
After the construction of the cloister in the 16th century, another renovation took place under the architect Giuseppe Nuvolo, who was a Domenican friar himself. The dome dates from 1609.
From 1632 to 1633, Pietro di Marino and Natale Longo worked on the current portal and the church square.
The bell tower is the work of Francesco Antonio Picchiati and was added in 1665.
Giuseppe Astarita carried out new restorations in 1755. The Art Deco stucco decorations by Giuseppe Scarola also date from this time.
In the 19th century, many religious buildings were expropriated and the convent was turned into a tobacco factory. Later it became the seat of the Faculty of Letters of the city’s University.
After a bombing in 1943, restoration followed ten years later under Luigi Cosenza.
Description
The most striking features of the facade are the 17th-century portal and the central window with 14th-century stucco decorations.
The interior is in the form of a Latin cross with a single nave and seven side chapels on either side.
Both the main altar and the balustrade in front of it were designed by Dionisio Lazzari.
Fabrizio Santafede painted the “Madonna and Saints” in the third chapel on the right.
The 15th-century tombs of Isabella di Chiaromente and Pietro d’Aragona are in the 7th chapel on the right.
The 2nd chapel on the left is the San Vincenzo Ferrer Chapel. Antonio Colantonio painted the polyptych “San Vincenzo, Events from the Life of the Saint, and “Annunciation of the Lord” around 1460. Isabella di Chiaromonte an her children are depicted in the paintaing.
The wooden cross in the 6th chapel on the left is from Giovanni Da Nola’s studio.
“The Annunciation of the Lord” and the “Marian Visitation” in the 7th chapel on the left were painted by Francesco Solimena. The balustrade in this chapel is by Dionisio Lazzari.
“The Martyrdom of San Pietro of Verona” in the right nave was painted by Girolamo Imparato.
Giovan Bernardo Azzolino was responsible for the “San Domenico Handing Out Rosaries” (1609-1612) in the left nave.
Sebastiano Conca painted the “San Pietro Martire Condemned to Martyrdom (1750)” in the apse. The other paintings in the apse are by Giacinto Diano. These are “Santa Caterina Desiring the Return of the Holy See to Rome” (right), “Triumph of the Doctrine of San Tommaso” (left) and “Miracle of the Statue of San Domenico Soriano” on the vault.
The statue on the right in the presbytery depicts “San Marco” and is attributed either to Giovanni Da Nola or to Bartolomeo Ordoñez.