Spanish Quarter

- Montesanto Funicular (Corso Vittorio Emanuele station), Military Hospital, Via Montecalvario, Largo Concordia, Sant'Anna di Palazzo, Piazza San Ferdinando -

We suggest you begin the itinerary at the Montesanto funicular station, or, if you prefer to come down from the Vomero, at the Via Pedamentina di San Martini, a beautiful flight of steps rich in evocative glimpses of Naples. We descend past the Military Hospital (no longer in use) that was housed in the convent of the Trinità delle Monache, whose powerful baroque architectural elements are visible on the left side. The convent, whose cloisters spread out over several levels, was founded in the beginning of the seventeenth century on the site of the Palazzo dei Sanfelice. The church is the work of Francesco Grimaldi. Descending along Via Girardi (notice the handsome palazzo on the right), we enter the Quartieri Spagnoli (the Spanish Quarter), an extension of the city fabric uphill from Via Toledo that was accomplished by Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo. Created for quartering troops, the quarter is laid out on a perpendicular grid, and is rich in baroque churches. We immediately encounter the church of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori, encamped on Via Pasquale Scura, the hillside extension of Spaccanapoli; next Santa Maria Ognibene; then Santa Maria della Concezione a Montecalvario (rebuilt by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro); and, in the small piazza of Montecalvario, Santa Maria della Mercede a Montecalvario, built in 1560 and restored in 1857. Along this itinerary, which tends to move downward or on parallel lines along the hillside, we notice that the quarter not only exhibits a rectilinear grid, but also open squares that are located almost rhythmically, the site of markets some of whose designs go back to the Bourbon era, or to the decade of French rule (such as the one at Montecalvario, designed by Gasse as early as 1807). Continuing along Via Montecalvario parallel to Via Toledo, we reach the church of the Trinità degli Spagnoli, built in 1573 and redone in 1794. Our itinerary skirts the shoulder of the Central funicular station and goes slightly uphill. Here the city fabric changes, losing some of its regularity, in part because of a change in the level of the terrain, which now inclines toward Chiaia. The place names change too, replacing the earlier "degli spagnoli" ("of the Spaniards") with "di palazzo" ("of the Palace"). As we move toward Via Cariati we encounter the churches of SS. Francesco e Matteo (circa 1587), Santa Maria della Concordia (1556) with its convent, San Pantaleone and San Mattia. From Vico San Mattia we reach Piazzetta Sant'Anna di Palazzo (also called "del Rosario"). From here, descending along Via De Cesare, we reach Piazza Trieste e Trento. (Paolo Mascilli Migliorini)