Santa Maria del Faro is a church in the quartiere of

Posillipo Posillipo (; ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Romans along the mo ...

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. A church was founded here in the 13th century, and restored in the 18th century using designs by

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 ...

and under the patronage of the Mazza family. The

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 ...

church incorporates small fragments of Roman sarcophagi. It contains fragments of the Roman Villa of ''Pausylipon'', which was the site of a Roman lighthouse; hence the name ''Santa Maria del Faro'', "

Saint Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

of the lighthouse".

Bibliography

*''Napoli e dintorni'', Touring club Italia, Touring Editore, 2001.
Exterior of Church

References

Churches in Naples Baroque architecture in Naples 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy {{Campania-RC-church-stub