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Monasteries These four items appeared separately in the Around Naples Encyclopedia on the dates indicated. They have been consolidated onto a single page here. 1. Oct. 2002
I see that the university my wife graduated from here in Naples has started a new degree program in art restoration. That's a good idea in a city with as much art and history as Naples has. The newspapers never tire of reporting how this monument is falling apart or that building is crumbling, and you do notice the small run-down churches, some closed for many years. Yet, much of the time, the city does a good job of using the past. I am referring to the great number of the city's public buildings, universities, hospitals—and even police stations—that are in well-restored monasteries.  Obviously, the Protestant
Reformation in the early 1500s and the religious
slaughter dryly known as the Thirty Years War (1618-48)
changed the Roman Catholic monastic tradition that had
flourished in Europe since its beginnings under St.
Benedict at Monte Cassino in the sixth century. In the
1500s and 1600s thousands of Catholic churches and
monasteries were destroyed, put out of business, or
converted to Protestantism in England and Central Europe.
Those events, however, left the heartland of the Roman
Catholic faith, Italy, largely untouched. The Vatican
States were left intact and the vast Kingdom of Naples,
half of the Italian peninsula, survived the religious
strife that had wracked northern Europe. Thus, in the city
of Naples in the year 1700, out of a total population of
300,000, fully one-tenth of that number—one out of every
ten Neapolitans!—was either a priest, a monk, or a nun
living and working in the churches and adjacent
monasteries of Naples.That did not change significantly until the French took over the Kingdom in 1806. The anti-clericalism of the French Revolution closed most monasteries in parts of Europe that were under French control between 1795 and 1814; that included the monasteries in Naples, which were closed by Murat's decree of 1812. Monasteries in Naples never recovered from that, even after the restoration of the old social order by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Later, the second great "suppression" of monasteries in Italy occurred in 1864, after the unification of Italy. Thus, in Naples, though there are still some true working monasteries left, such as Santa Chiara, San Gregorio Armeno, and Camaldoli, most of the grand old monasteries now serve other purposes, and it is interesting to look at a few of these. The City Hall of Naples is the ex-monastery of the adjacent church of San Giacomo [St. James] degli Spagnoli. It was built in the mid-1500s and was vast. An inner passage connected the front of the complex to via Toledo, the main road running behind it. That passage was closed as a result of the construction of the new Bank of Naples in 1939. (The City Hall is seen at left-center, at the top of the square, in the photo of Piazza Municipio.) One of the two structures on the hill above Naples is another ex-monastery, the Museum of San Martino. The photo at the top of this entry shows the courtyard of the monastery of S. Maria La Nova. Administrative offices for the city now occupy the premises. (The church, itself, is still a church and is the subject of item #3, below.) Various departments of the University of Naples have taken over a number of former religious facilities. The Medical School sits on the height at the old northwest corner of the city, above today's Archaeological Museum and Piazza Cavour. That university department has incorporated a number of smaller churches and cloisters that themselves were on the sites of ancient Greek buildings. Also, the recently restored Cloister of Saints Marcellino and Festo now houses the Paleontology Department (click here). The university library, itself, is behind the modern university building and is on the premises of the old Chiostro (Cloister) del Salvatore, an immense structure built in the 1570s that runs all the way up the hill behind the university almost to Piazza San Domenico Maggiore. It is still a tourist attraction because of its so-called "courtyard of statues", a display of busts of illustrious persons such as Bruno, Vico, and Aquinas.  The
Architecture Department of the University
of Naples is currently (2002) in the process of
expanding to the premises of the old monastery of the
Church of the Spirito Santo (photo, left). The
entire complex was, indeed, vast. It was built in the
mid-1500s and the historical marker near the entrance
(photo insert) on via Toledo marks it as a "Conservatory"
for the poor, reminding us of the original meaning of that
word --a place to help the poor and, in many cases,
"conserve" orphaned and abandoned children. (The extended
meaning of "music school" is, apparently, a Neapolitan
coinage. (Click on the 'Music Conservatory' link, below.) The massive building that now houses the
State Archives was originally the Benedictine monastery of
Saints Severino and Sossio (photo, right) and is in the
heart of the old city, near the intersection of Via dei
Librai ("Spaccanapoli") and Via Duomo. The monastery
was one of the largest in the city and also one of the
oldest, dating back to the 10th century. It was also known
as the "cloister of the plane tree" as legend has it that
the original building was erected in a grove of trees of
that species (platanus), a specimen of which had been
given to St. Benedict, himself. The history of the
first few centuries of the monastery remains obscure; true
enlargement of the premises started in the 1400s. Within
the modern building are to be found works of art depicting
the history of the Benedictine order.Also, the Music Conservatory, the military barracks at Monteoliveto, the School for Architectural Restoration, and the Monastery of Piedigrotta are other examples of religious institutions converted to other use, mostly in the last 100 years. The list is, indeed, long. Perhaps we do well to look at the gradual conversion of monasteries to other uses not so much as the result of forced closures, although that, too, did happen. It is also a sign of the changing times. "Personal" monasticism—that is, individuals going on religious retreats once in a while to get away from it all—has become somewhat fashionable recently, but there is no doubt that large, full-time monastic orders are an anachronism, witness the long decline in those willing to enter upon religious callings such as the priesthood. Very practical matters, as well, play a part—modern urbanization, for example. Some of the monasteries built in the 1500s in Naples were, at the time, on the outskirts of the city. The church of the Spirito Santo, mentioned above, was outside the city wall and at the foot of a bucolic hillside. Today, it is in downtown Naples. Even more dramatic is an institution such as the Cloister of Suor Orsola, a convent built in the mid-1600s halfway up the hill to San Martino at the top. When Suor Orsola was built, there was scarcely a trail, much less a road on the hillside. It was in the country. That section of Naples was opened to urbanization by the construction in the mid-1800s of what has become one of the main thoroughfares of the city, Corso Vittorio Emanuele. After 1901, the old convent functioned as a women's college and [update: 2010] recently has become part of the Naples university system, with both male and female students. 2.
entry Oct. 2002
Camaldoli, monasteries (2) revised Mar 2009 and July 2010  There are still a number of
monasteries in Naples, places of seclusion that will
take you as a paying guest for a few days and let you
seek your Self. One of the most tempting of such
places is the Hermitage of Camaldoli (photo, left). It
sits on the hill in back of Naples between Vesuvius
and the Flegrean Fields at
almost 500 meters, the highest point in the area. Even
if you don't find your Self, you may at least find
some respite from the summer heat.There has been a Christian place of worship on that site since the late 5th century, the original church having been founded, according to tradition, by St. Gaudioso. The structure that one sees today, however, is more recent by a millennium. It is from 1585 and was built by the Camaldolese order, a Benedictine monastic order founded in Tuscany in 1225 by St. Romuald. The architect was Domenico Fontana. The current state of the premises is very fine, and the inside of the church has been restored to its Baroque brilliance. The large altar is attributed to Cosimo Fanzago, and there are numerous prized works of art in the church: sculpture by Salvatore Franco, frescoes by Angelo Mozzillo, and paintings by such artists as Cesare Fracanzano (The Assumption of the Virgin and the Saints) and Luca Giordano (The Holy Family with our Heavenly Father) as well as Massimo Stanzione's version of The Last Supper. The general layout of the hermitage is the result of a major restoration in 1792.  Like other monasteries
in Europe under Napoleon's control (Naples was ruled
by the French for 10 years; see Murat), the Camaldoli
Hermitage was closed during that period in the early
1800s. It was reopened after the restoration of the
Bourbons to the throne of Naples and then closed
again in 1866 after the unification of Italy. In
1885 it was again opened and returned to the
Benedictine Camaldolese. That order left the
hermitage in the late 1990s, and since that time the
site has been the home to sisters of the order of
the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget—in Italian, Santa Brigida.
The order was
founded by Mary
Elizabeth Hesselblad (1870-1957),
a Swede, who was beatified as the namesake of
another Swede, the earlier Santa
Brigida, well-known in the history of Naples.
The entire premises, including works of art within
the church, have been recently restored; the place
is, simply, spotless and lovely with ample gardens
and a breathtaking panorama of the entire gulf of
Naples, a reminder that for many centuries before
the Camaldolese moved in and informally gave the
name of their order to the entire hillside, the
summit was simply called the "Prospetto"—the view. As noted
above, the hermitage welcomes visitors.[Also see Peace & Quiet] 3.
entry Dec. 2002
Santa Maria La Nova,
monasteries (3)
Santa Maria la Nova was closed in 1980 due to damage caused by the earthquake in that year; it was reopened in 1992 for a few years, at which time visitors had the opportunity to view the splendid magnificent interior of the church. It was closed in 1997 for repairs to the building and, in particular, to restore the ceiling fresco. It will reopen on Jan. 4 with an orchestral and choir concert that will be taped for later broadcast by the Italian national television network. This will mark the beginning of what everyone hopes will be a prosperous future for the building and adjacent monastery. The church will no longer be a house of worship. “There are enough churches in this area to handle the demand,” says Father Giuseppe Reale of the resident Franciscan order. Santa Maria La Nova will be transformed into a Center for Sacred Music; the acoustics are already known to be outstanding, and the church organs are fine instruments and have been restored. Most interesting—this is where the “prosperous” part comes in—is the plan to turn part of the monastery, itself (photo), into a four-star hotel! This will be the second such Franciscan venture into the hotel business in Naples. The San Francesco del Monte hotel on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, overlooking the whole city of Naples and with a direct view of Mt. Vesuvius and the Sorrentine peninsula, has been open for a few months and seems to be doing well. The Santa Maria La Nova hotel with “monastic style” furnishings (for those who wish to engage in some 4-star meditation) with easy access to the auditorium of the Center for Sacred Music) should be open in 2003.
4. entry Aug. 2003
Cilento, National Park; monasteries (4)The light-green area is the province of
Salerno;
within that, the darker green is the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park.
That spur of coast separates the Gulf of Salerno to the
north from the Gulf of Policastro in the south. Although
the mountains are not high by the absolute standards of
the Alps (Monte Cervati at 1900 meters—5700
feet—is the highest summit in the Cilento), the relative
height is impressive, especially near the coast, where
the immediate change in altitude is from sea-level to
the 1200 meters (3600 feet) of Monte Bulgheria,
a mountain that rises immediately from the coast above
and behind the town of Scario.
The southern Italian peninsula of the 700s and 800s was
not a bad place for people looking to be left alone.
There were long periods when sections of the south were
under only the nominal control of a central authority.
The Lombards had invaded Italy late in the late 500s. In
800, they were replaced by Charlemagne, the first Holy
Roman Emperor, but even that affected mostly central and
northern Italy. In the 800s and 900s the south stayed
Lombard. First, it was the large Duchy of Benevento;
then, that splintered through civil war into smaller
units, one of which was the Duchy
of Salerno. All of this was then gobbled up in the
1000s by the Normans.
Important for this brief discussion is that Lombards,
Salernitans, Normans— whatever—were all devout followers
of the western church. Yet, followers of the eastern
Greek church were, to my knowledge, pretty much left
alone to worship as they pleased, even after the
schismatic movements from Constantinople, first by
Photius in 867, and, finally, the schism in 1054 that
officially separated Christianity into east and west.
There was not then—nor has there ever been in southern
Italy—any particular persecution of the Greek Orthodox
religion by Roman Catholics. It is true, however, that,
little by little over the centuries, these eastern
religious orders in southern Italy became westernized
and in many cases were simply absorbed into the
mainstream of the western monastic tradition. to: portal
index for architecture and urban planning |
The
original monastery and home of the Franciscan order
that inhabits the church of Santa Maria La Nova
was where the present-day Castel Nuovo, or 
The
most spectacular work of art within the
church—indeed, one of the most spectacular in the
entire city—is the magnificent 46-panel gilded
fresco on the ceiling (photo, right). The fresco
dates back to 1600 and is the collective work of a
number of artists, including Luca Giordano. Various
magnifying mirrors are set up at ground level within
the church to enable visitors to view the ceiling
more easily. The church, itself, is an integral part
of the whole monastic complex, much of which now
houses municipal office space. 
Naples
is the name of the city as well as of the larger
administrative unit—the province—of which it is the
capital. The province is, in turn, part of the yet
larger unit—the region—of Campania. The province of
Naples is not the largest in area in the Campania
region, however. That distinction goes to the
neighboring province of Salerno to the south. 
The province of
Salerno occupies about 3,000 square miles. About
one-third of that area has been given over since 1991 to
the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, an area of
great natural beauty and extreme historic interest. The
park is almost all mountains and starts just below
Battipaglia, running down to Sapri on the coast at the
end of the Campania region. The bulk of the park
occupies the rugged terrain called "Cilento," a bulge on
the coast that accommodates a section of the Apennine
mountain range that has wandered over from the main line
to drop off into the Tyrrhenian Sea. 
It is this section of the
Cilento that provides some fascinating glimpses into the
history of Christianity. If you stand in the little
harbor of Scario, you look up at Monte Bulgheria
(photo, right)—an archaic Italian spelling for
"Bulgaria"—Bulgarian Mountain. It is in the middle of
southern Italy but is so-called because the area was
settled by refugee monks from the east over 1000 years
ago. The great Iconoclast controversies of the 8th and
9th centuries drove a number of monks to escape the
severe persecutions of Constantinople (indeed, the most
severe of the "icon smashers" aimed to destroy
monasticism, itself). The monasteries founded in the
immediate area of Monte Bulgheria are Santa Maria di
Pattano, San Giovanni Battista, San Marcurio di
Roccagloriosa, Santa Maria di Centola, San Nazario di
Cuccaro, Santa Maria di Grottaferrata in Rofrano, Santa
Cecilia di Eremiti, San Cono di Camerota and San Pietro
di Licusati. All of them were founded between 750 and
950 a.d.