Borsa

- Piazza Matteotti, Piazza Carità, Monteoliveto, Borsa, Corso Umberto I, Piazza Nicola Amore, Piazza Mercato, San Pietro ad Aram, Stazione Centrale -

Piazza Matteotti is the fruit of the Fascist reorganization of the historical fabric of Naples, here in an area that had taken its full shape in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the Thirties, that fabric was rewoven with works of considerable formal value, among which is the Post Office (Vaccaro and Franzi, 1929-1935), which occupies part of the area of the Convent of the Olivetani. The great cloister, now become a sort of closed piazza, separates the Post Office's curved facade from the National Insurance Institute's building, itself another episode in rationalist design. As we pass beside Piazza Carità, we encounter the Caserma Pastrengo (Pastrengo Barracks) and the Church of Monteoliveto, called Sant'Anna of the Lombards, both of which were also part of the powerful monastic complex. Piazza Monteoliveto, characterized by a fountain topped with a statue of Charles II (circa 1668), is linked to Piazza del Gesù by Calata Trinità Maggiore, it, too, rich in estimable buildings (on the left, Palazzo Pignatelli, restored by Ferdinando Sanfelice; at the corner, the Renaissance Palazzo Gravina, today the Architecture Faculty of the University). Taking Via Ferdinando Sanfelice, we reach Piazza Bovio, marked by the Palazzo della Borsa. In the center is the Neptune Fountain (1601), perhaps from a design by Domenico Fontana, who directed its construction. Its statues are by Pietro Bernini and Michelangelo Naccherino. Urban renewal cut off the strips of the urban fabric that were closest to the port, marginalizing them. In the port area reorganized by Domenico Fontana is the church of Santa Maria di Portosalvo, and in the background the Baroque structure of the Immacolatella (today the harbormaster's office), topped by a statue of the Madonna by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro. We return to Corso Umberto passing the church of San Pietro Martire (Peter Martyr) and its convent (now the Faculty of Literature). In front is the academic neoclassical presence of the central University. We reach Piazza Nicola Amore, called the piazza of the "four palaces" from the four identical buildings which form it (in a more refined style than is the case with most of the episodes of urban renewal), and then descend along Via Duomo, passing beside the church of San Giovanni a Mare, mentioned as early as the twelfth century and restored in 1878, and the thirteenth century church of Sant'Eligio. Once past the fifteenth century clock arch, we reach Piazza del Mercato (Market Place), the site of important historic events (the execution of Conradin of Swabia, Masaniello's revolt, the execution of the heroes of 1799). Its current form, focussing on the church of Santa Croce al Mercato, was designed at the end of the eighteenth century by Francesco Securo. And so we come to the church of the Carmine, where are preserved a miraculous crucifix and the painting of the Madonna della Bruna. On the left side are what remains of the cloister's arcade (lopped off by Via Marina) and the now isolated Gate of the Carmine and the Spinella Tower, the last trace of a castle that was torn down in 1906. Having returned to Corso Umberto, we reach the church of the Annunziata (rebuilt by Luigi and Carlo Vanvitelli, 1760-1782) along Via del Lavinaio. (The entrance is on Vicolo del Lavinaio). To the left is Sant'Agostino della Zecca (Saint Augustine near the Mint) by Bartolomeo Picchiatti (1641-1697), founded by the Eremitani in the fourteenth century. To the right, along Via Nolana, we reach Porta Nolana (Nolana Gate). Alongside the church of the Annunziata is the Foundling Hospital with a sculpted gate by Tommaso Malvito (circa 1500) and a door with the coats of arms of Pietro Belverte and Giovanni da Nola (1508). Returning to Corso Umberto, we pass beside the basilica of San Pietro ad Aram, incorporated into buildings built during urban renewal. We reach Piazza Garibaldi, terminated by the central railway station (1960). In the background are the towers of the business district. (Paolo Mascilli Migliorini)