Chiaia

- Cappella Vecchia, piazza dei Martiri, Villa Comunale, Villa Pignatelli, Ascensione, piazza Amedeo, Santa Maria in Portico, Riviera di Chiaia, Mergellina -

The Chiaia district developed outside the city walls, starting in the sixteenth century. One reached the district through the Chiaia Gate, which stood near the current Via Santa Caterina. Two roads crossed the district: one along the coast (the current Riviera di Chiaia), the other inland (along the track of the current Vico Belledonne, Via Santa Teresa, Piazzetta Ascensione, and Vico Santa Maria in Portico). The Duke of Noja's map (1775) demonstrates how the Chiaia district expanded parallel to the coast. Certain buildings appear in the map that still exist along Via dei Mille: Palazzo Roccella, Palazzo del Vasto, and the church of Santa Teresa, as well as the Piazzetta dell'Ascensione. At the time, the area was rich in gardens, though these underwent radical transformations in the second half of the nineteenth century, during development of the Rione Amedeo (Amedeo Quarter, begun in 1859 by Alvino) and the construction of Via dei Mille (begun in 1886). Our itinerary starts at the Cappella Vecchia (the Old Chapel) and Piazza dei Martiri, and, continues down Via Calabritto. On the left, going down the street, is the side facade of the Palazzo Calabritto (by Vanvitelli). Opposite (on the right) is the side exposure of another large building, Palazzo Satriano, whose main entrance is on the Riviera di Chiaia. This is where the famous line of palaces along the Riviera begins. Among them we should mention Palazzo Pignatelli Strongoli (by Antonio Niccolini, 1820), the palazzo of the Duke of San Teodoro (built by Guglielmo Bechi, 1826, in a neoclassical style), Villa Acton (currently known as Villa Pignatelli), Palazzo Carafa di Belvedere (rebuilt by Bechi in 1823-33, and recently restored), and the palazzo of Ferdinando Alarçon de Mendoza (restored by Antonio Annito in 1815, with interior modifications by Fausto Niccolini from 1838). The church of San Giuseppe a Chiaia (1666-73), by the Jesuit Tommaso Carrese, also fits into this perspective along the Riviera, its facade characterized by a wide terracotta bas-relief above the entrance.The Villa Communale opens up in front of all this, and extends from Piazza Vittoria to Piazza della Repubblica. The Acquarium is open for visits. Via Ascensione a Chiaia and Via Santa Maria in Portico start from the Riviera, and move perpendicular to it back to the churches of these names. If we go uphill along Via Arco Mirelli, we encounter, along the left, the church of San Francesco degli Scarioni (1721) and the church of Saints Giovanni and Teresa that once belonged to a convent of the Sisters of Saint Theresa, founded in 1746 by nuns from San Giuseppe a Pontecorvo. At the end of the Riviera, Via Piedigrotta opens out into the Piazza Piedigrotta, dominated by the church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta, one of the most popular churches in Naples, and the site of a famous festival. Along the church's right side, passing under the railway, we shortly come to the entrance of the park that houses Virgil's Tomb (on the left, just before entering the Galleria IV Giornate), which was given its present layout in 1930, on the occasion of the two thousandth anniversary of the poet's birth. In 1939 the tomb of Giacomo Leopardi was set up in the same park. The memory of yet another poet, Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530) is linked to the history of nearby Mergellina, where he lived and founded the church of Santa Maria del Parto.