A recently discovered wooden sculpture of The Crucified Christ, authenticated as being from the year 1495 and the work of the young Michelangelo is on display through July 12 at the new Diocesano Museum in the church of Donna Regina in Naples. The work was first shown to the public in 2004 in Florence and has since been exhibited in Rome, Palermo, Trapani and Milan. The Italian state acquired the small sculpture from an antique dealer in Turino who had, in turn, bought it from a private family. Experts spent ten years authenticating it before putting it on display. Their judgment was based on a number things: the geometrically ideal human proportions of the sculpture (corresponding to Leonardo’s so-called Vitruvian Man); also, the sculpture came at a time in Michelangelo's life in the mid-1490s when he resided at the Santo Spirito church in Florence and pursued intense studies of human anatomy at the church’s hospital; and the fact that the sculpture on display is very similar to ones—verifiably by Michelangelo—done at the Santo Spirito. The work is about 43 centimeters (17 inches) high.

The church of S. M. Donna Regina has housed the Diocesano Museum since October 2007. ("Diocesan" in English=the adjective from "diocese," the area under the jurisdiction of a bishop; thus, the museum is the Diocese Museum. It is, in fact, directly across from the residence of the archbishop of Naples.)

The church was closed for decades, but the restoration and conversion to a museum has been spectacularly successful. There are two floors containing hundreds of items of religious art on permanent display, including works by Solimena, Falcone, Giordano and de Matteis; there are also unique items such as a collection of reliquary crosses. There are also a great many anonymous works, often displayed prominently in the six side chapels on either side of the single nave. Special items on temporary display, such as the current Michelangelo exhibit are shown in a special area—what used to be the large choir loft at the front of the church above the main altar.

Technically, the church is called "Donna Regina Nuova" (new) to distinguish it from the nearby Donna Regina Vecchia (old). Originally, it was all a single complex. The old church dates back to the eighth century. After the earthquake of 1293, Queen Mary of Hungary, wife of Charles II of Anjou, decided to build a new convent on the site, where she also wanted to be buried. Then, the nuns of Donna Regina decided to build the new church, while the old one stayed within the confines of the convent. Today, Donna Regina Vecchia houses a museum for contemporary art named the Museo Madre (an acronym for Museo d'Arte Donna Regina).