Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cinque Piaghe
( 081 42 50 11; Vico Tre Re a Toledo 13; church 7am-noon, apartment 9am-noon,
also 4.30-7.30pm on the 6th of every month; Toledo)
The very essence of Naples' cult-
ish brand of Catholicism, this holy sanctuary was once the stomping ground of stigmatic
and mystic Santa Maria Francesca delle Cinque Piaghe, the city's only canonised woman.
It is also home to her miraculous wooden chair, a particular hit with infertile believers,
who sit down on it in the hope of falling pregnant.
(Those after a blessing can request one from the Daughters of Santa Maria Francesca,
who run the place.)
The holy furniture piece inhabits the saint's meticulously preserved 18th-century
apart-
ment
. Here, the walls heave with modern baby trinkets and vivid 18th- and 19th-century
paintings depicting fantastical holy healings - ex voti offered by those whose prayers have
been answered. Other household objects include the stigmatic's blood-stained clothes, her
bed and pillow, her self-flagellation cords and a rare, hand-painted
spinetta
(spinet or
harpsichord) from 1682.
The apartment is positioned above a tiny
chapel
famed for its beautiful 18th-century
Neapolitan liturgical art, including glass-eyed holy statues. Particularly rare is the statue
of the
Divina Pastora
(Divine Shepherdess) on the left side of the nave. The only sculp-
ture of its kind in Naples, it features an unusual depiction of the Virgin Mary reclined and
wearing a shepherdess' hat that has its roots in 18th-century Spain. To the left of the nave,
a statue of Santa Maria Francesca contains the holy local's bones.
CHURCH, HISTORIC SITE
Museo Nitsch
( 081 564 16 55;
www.museonitsch.org
; Vico Lungo Pontecorvo 29d; adult/reduced
€10/5; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat; Dante)
In 1974, experimental Austrian
artist Hermann Nitsch was invited to perform one of his 'actions' (a bloody, ritualistic art
performance) in Naples, leading to his immediate arrest and deportation from Italy. Not
one for the squeamish or easily offended, this savvy museum and cultural centre docu-
ments the now revered artist's intriguing, symbolic, confronting works through photo-
graphs, video, painting and props.
Set in a converted power station with superb views from its rooftop, the centre also
hosts regular cultural events, such as avant-garde film screenings.
MUSEUM
