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San Martino & Sant'Elmo
Under the French, the
monastery was closed in 1806 and was abandoned by the
religious order. Today, the museum houses a museum
with a fine display of Spanish and Bourbon era artifacts, as
well as a recently restored presepe, or
Nativity scene, a display made up of thousands of
finely wrought eighteenth-century Christmas figures.
It is the finest display of its kind in the world. (Click here for more
about the presepe.)
Sant’ Elmo is the name of both the
hill and the fortress adjacent to the museum. The name
is from an old 10th-century church, Sant’ Erasmo, that
name being shortened to "Ermo" and, finally, "Elmo".*
During the revolution of 1647,
so-called “Masaniello’s
Revolt,” the Spanish viceroy took refuge in the
fortress to escape the revolutionaries. The people
stormed the fortress but failed to take it. Sant’Elmo was also a dramatic symbol of the short, turbulent period of the Parthenopean Republic, the local version of the French Republic. The fortress was taken by the populace in 1799 and the Republic was proclaimed. A few months later, the revolutionaries were forced to capitulate to Royalist forces under Cardinal Ruffo. For a short period, Sant’Elmo had been a bastion of freedom against Bourbon absolutism; now it proved to be the prison and place of execution for a number of the Republic’s supporters. The fortress has been restored to public use since 1980 and houses the "Bruno Molajoli" Art History museum.
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Seen from the sea,
the most visible structures in Naples are the museum
of San Martino and the fortress of Sant' Elmo, located
on the Vomero hill at the highest point in the city.
The museum used to be a monastery that was finished
and inaugurated under the rule of Queen Giovanna I in
1368. It was dedicated to St. Martin, bishop of
Tours. During the first half of the sixteenth century,
propelled by the energies of the Counter-reformation,
it was expanded. Later, in 1623, it was further
expanded and became, under the direction of architect
The fortress was started in 1329 under
Robert of Anjou and completed in 1343, the year of his
death. The strategic importance of the fortress was
clear, and the Spanish viceroy, Don Pedro de Toledo,
had it rebuilt between 1537 and 1546. The result was a
spectacular star-shaped castle with 12 cannons; part
of the six ramparts with "double-claw" design rest
against the rocky tuff of the hillside so that the
castle blends in with the surrounding environment. The
fortress was partially destroyed in 1587 when a
lightning strike caused the ammunition dump to
explode, killing 150 men in the process.