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SPACCANAPOLI/LOWER
DECUMANUS.
Three-stage walk:
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from via Pasquale Scura to Piazza del Gesù
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the Church of Gesù Nuovo to Piazza San Domenico
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from piazzetta Nilo to via Duomo.
Long
and narrow, Spaccanapoli is the street that starts half-way up the
side of the Vomero hill at a point directly below the Sant'Elmo
castle and the San Martino monastery and then divides the old city
in two ( hence the name--from "spaccare", to split); the street
separates that part of the city that spreads down towards the sea
from the part that runs to the hills of Vomero and Capodimonte.
Spaccanapoli changes names frequently and passes many cross streets
as it follows a very long and straight path from one end of the
ancient Greco-Roman city to the other. >From beginning to end, the
walk passes over the ancient and regular grid of the city laid out
in cardini and decumani (north-south and east-west
streets, respectively) and through old quarters of the city, teeming
with life at every hour of the day and night. The area pulses with
the life of alleys, basement dwellings, artisan workshops, votive
shrines, hidden churches and monuments, old aristocratic residences,
archaeological ruins, squares small and large, each with an historical
treasure to discover or a curious tale to tell.
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 1ST
STAGE
From via Pasquale Scura to Piazza del Gesù
The
first leg is within the Montecalvario quarter, at the top of the
very steep via Pasquale Scura, just before the sharp descent towards
Pignasecca. Here, at the top, stands the church of Santa Maria of
the Seven Sorrows. Construction of the church was begun in 1583;
in spite of renovations in the 1600s and the addition of an external
stone staircase and a series of arches in the 1700s, the church
conserves the original single nave with three side chapels and a
simple portal. Among the paintings within the church are The
Death of St. Joseph by Saverio Altamura, St. Albert Invoking
the Virgin for the Victims of Cholera by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro,
and Mattia Preti's Saint Sebastian. Noteworthy, also, is the
tomb of Cosimo Fanzago, interred here in 1678.
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Continuing down the hill, you find the lively and colourful
area called Pigna Secca (dry pine cone), once an opulent flower
garden, then dried up by the encroachment of modern construction.
It is a bustling marketplace for foodstuffs of all kinds and from
everywhere--large baskets of fruit, piles of vegetables, stalls
laden with fish and seafood, shops with every sort of sausage, cheese
and bread. Wending your way among and past the various shops and
stalls, you come first to the hospital of the Brotherhood of the
Pellegrini (Pilgrims) and Church of The Most Holy Trinity. The site
is adorned on the outside by two statues: Saint Januarius (San Gennaro)
and Saint Phillip. The entrance leads to a double stone staircase
up into the church to a level above the interior courtyard of the
hospital, itself. The entire complex was built in the last half
of the 1500s and then completely renovated in the 18th century.
A number of famous architects had a hand in that rebuilding, among
whom was Luigi Vanvitelli, who started the project in 1769, and
his son, Carlo, who finished the job in the last years of the century.
The dual octagonal layout of the oratory and choir is unusual. Among
the treasures within the church are the group sculpture of the Trinity
by Antonio Viva on the main altar and, on the smaller choir altar,
a painting by Francesco De Mura.
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 Following
along to the square at Montesanto (a point marked by the cable-car
station as well as the Metropolitana and Cumana train stations),
you find the church of Santa Maria, built in the course of the 17th
century by Pietro De Martino, with the finishing touch of the dome
by Dioniso Lazzari in 1680. Among the points of interest within
the church is the tomb of the great musician, Alessandro Scarlatti,
who died in 1725. Leaving the Montesanto area, Spaccanapoli continues
across via Toledo into the stretch named via Maddaloni with the
Carafa di Maddaloni palace, built at the end of the 1500s by the
marquis of Vasto Cesare d'Avalos d'Aragona in a lush area granted
to him by the Pignatelli di Monteleone.
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It is a magnificent building spread around a central square courtyard
no longer in the original configuration due to the acquisition by
the original owner of an additional, adjacent garden called "Carogioiello"
from the Monteolivetan monks. The current lavish Baroque appearance
goes back to work done by Cosimo Fanzago, who, in the mid-1600s, was
given the task of restoring the building. We owe to him the monumental
stone portal, the grand staircase, the hanging "Serlian" windows that
look over the courtyard crowned by busts of women; visible, too, from
the portal is the ornamental white-grey intarsio inlay of the
elegant internal courtyard with its portico of Tuscan columns and
alternating open and braced arches. The frescoes on the vault and
opposite facade are also of extreme interest. And a final, curious
note: Doria noted that Giacomo Casanova--a frequent guest of the duke
of Maddaloni during his visits to Naples--mentioned in his memoirs
the great stables full of Arabian, Andalusian and English horses.
Moving along past the crossing of via Sant'Anna di Palazzo is via
Domenico Capitelli, which quickly leads to Piazza del Gesù. At the
center of this square is one of the intriguing Baroque monuments in
the city: the Spire of the Immaculate Virgin, a blend in marble of
fantastic figures and scenes put in place to recall ancient religious
rites. The square was also the main access to the city stables through
the Medina Gate; the gate was built by Cosimo Fanzago at the order
of viceroy Ramiro de Guzman, duke of Medina, and demolished in 1873.
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