The Church of the Nunziatella is a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

-style church located inside the grounds of the military school of

Nunziatella The Nunziatella Military School of Naples, Italy, founded November 18, 1787 under the name of ''Royal Military Academy'' (it.: ), is the oldest Italian institution of military education among those still operating after the Military Academy of Mode ...

, in the quartiere of San Ferdinando in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy. The

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

church was built in 1588 with the patronage of Anna Mendoza Marchesa della Valle, who donated the church to the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. In 1736, it was rebuilt wholly anew by the architect

Ferdinando Sanfelice Ferdinando Sanfelice (1675 – 1 April 1748) was an Italian late Baroque architect and painter. Sanfelice was born in Naples and died there. He was one of the principal architects in Naples in the first half of the 18th century. He was a studen ...

. In 1773, with the suppression of the Jesuit order, the complex was under the jurisdiction of Somaschi brothers, who established a college for sons of the

Knights of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

. The next year this became the ''Royal Military College'' and the Somaschi moved to the church of Gesù Vecchio. The church since then has become the chapel of the Nunziatella Military Institute. Originally, the church was dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation, but popularly the church was known as the "Annunziatella" o "Nunziatella", to distinguish it from the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata Maggiore. The name passed on to the adjacent military school.

Interior

The interior of the church has a basilica plan with lateral chapels. Frescoes that depict the ''Adoration of the Magi'' in the apse and the ''Assumption of the Virgin'' in the ceiling are by are mainly by

Francesco de Mura Francesco de Mura (21 April 1696 – 19 August 1782) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period, active mainly in Naples and Turin. His late work reflects the style of neoclassicism. Life Francesco de Mura, also referred to as ''France ...

. Also in the Apse is a series of paintings depicting the ''Life of Mary'' by

Ludovico Mazzanti ''Judith and Holofernes'' 1740, Collection Motais de Narbonne Ludovico Mazzanti (5 December 1686, in Orvieto – 29 August 1775, in Viterbo) was an Italian painter. He was a follower of the school of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, known as Baciccio (d ...

, who also painted the four saints in the counterfacade. The main altar and balustrade in polychrome marble and bronze decoration (1756) was made by

Giuseppe Sanmartino Giuseppe Sanmartino or Sammartino (1720 – 1793) was a prominent Italian sculptor in Naples during the late Baroque period who focused on religious sculptures. His most famous work is the '' Veiled Christ'' (1753) in Sansevero Chapel in Naple ...

References

Bibliography

* Patrizia Di Maggio, ''Nunziatella'', Longobardi editore, 1999.

External links

Church of the Nunziatella
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunziatella Roman Catholic churches in Naples 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy

Interior

See also

References

Bibliography

External links