Santa Maria Donnaromita is a former church located on via Paladino 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 ...

A church at the site was first founded by nuns putatively fleeing in 1025 from

iconoclasm Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, and thus initially gave the monastery the title: ''Monasterium Monialum Santa Mariae de Percejo de Constantinopoli ordini Cisterciensium regulae San Bernardi''. In time this became the church of ''Santa Mariae dominarum de Romania de Neapolitanum ordinis Cisterciensis''.Notizie del bello dell'antico e del curioso della città di Napoli
Volume 3, 1870, by

Carlo Celano Carlo Celano (22 February 1625 ''–'' 3 December 1693) was an Italian lawyer and man of letters, who led the restoration of the church of Santa Restituta in his birthplace of Naples and left an accurate census of the city's monuments, updated up ...

, Giovanni Battista Chiarini, page 648. By 14th century a church on the present plan was built, and refurbished in the 16th century by Giovanni Francesco di Palma along with construction of the convent and cloisters by Giovanni Vincenzo Della Monica. Further reconstructions in the 16th and 17th centuries gave the complex its

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 ...

imprint. In the 19th century, the church was suppressed and became an engineering school. It was damaged during the Second World War. The interior ceiling (1587-1590) was decorated by Giovanni Andrea Magliuolo and painted by

Teodoro d'Errico Dirck Hendricksz (Amsterdam, 1544 – Amsterdam, 1618) was a Dutch-Italian painter. In Italy he was known as Teodoro d'Errico or Dirk Hendrici. He was engaged in painting mainly altarpieces and for churches in Naples from 1574 to 1606. Although bo ...

; on the counterfacade is an ''Epiphany'' (1728), while the cupola was frescoed by

Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Early l ...

. In the apse are the remains of the main altar sculpted by the brothers

Bartolomeo Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo is a masculine Italian given name, the Italian equivalent of Bartholomew. Its diminutive form is Baccio. Notable people with the name include: * Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo (1824–1860), Italian paleobotanist and ...

and Pietro Ghetti; The pavement was designed by Donato Massa. In the chapel, Duke Theodore's remains are housed in a reused ancient Roman sarcophagus.

References

Bibliography

*Vincenzo Regina, ''Le chiese di Napoli. Viaggio indimenticabile attraverso la storia artistica, architettonica, letteraria, civile e spirituale della Napoli sacra'', Newton and Compton Editor, Naples 2004.

External links

Church of Santa Maria Donnaromita at Napoligrafia website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Donnaromita Naples Former churches in Naples 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Renaissance architecture in Naples Baroque church buildings in Naples