Naples - Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast - page 91

(Piazza San Domenico Maggiore; Dante) Centre stage on this handsome square is the
18th-century Guglia di San Domenico Offline map Google map ( Dante) . The work of
Cosimo Fanzago, Francesco Antonio Picchiatti and Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, it hon-
ours its namesake saint for ending the plague epidemic of 1656. Unfaithful Maria
d'Avalos and her lover Don Fabrizio weren't quite as lucky - Palazzo dei Di Sangro
(Piazza San Domenico 9) at No 9 is where Maria's jealous husband, Neapolitan musician
Carlo Gesualdo, murdered the lovebirds in 1590.
More upbeat is the Gothic Chiesa di San Domenico Maggiore ( Click here ) , whose
curious nave flanks the piazza's northern edge. See a face in the facade? You're not going
crazy - it was an intentional add-on, created to liven the church's derrière once the piazza
was created.

Chiesa di San Domenico Maggiore
( 081 45 91 88; Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 8a; 8.30am-noon & 4-7pm Mon-
Sat, 9am-1pm & 4.30-7.15pm Sun; Dante) Completed in 1324 on the orders of Charles
I of Anjou, this was the royal church of the Angevins. Of the few 14th-century remnants
surviving this church's countless makeovers, the frescoes by Pietro Cavallini in the Cap-
pella Brancaccio take the cake. The sacristy is equally noteworthy, featuring a beautiful
ceiling fresco by Francesco Solimena and 45 coffins of Aragon princes and other nobles.
In the Cappellone del Crocifisso, the 13th-century Crocifisso tra La Vergine e San Gio-
vanni is said to have spoken to St Thomas Aquinas, asking him: ' Bene scripsisti di me,
Thoma; quam recipies a me pro tu labore mercedem?' ('You've written good things about
me, Thomas, what will you get in return?') - 'Domine, non aliam nisi te' ('Nothing if not
you, O Lord'), Thomas replied diplomatically. Curiously enough, the first bishop of New
York, Richard Luke Concanen (1747-1810), is also buried here.

CHURCH

Via San Gregorio Armeno
Naples is famous for its traditional presepi (nativity scenes) and this narrow street is
where many Italians come to buy their Christmas crib figurines. Connecting Spaccanapoli
with Via dei Tribunali, the decumanus maior (main road) of ancient Neapolis, its clutter of
shops and workshops sell everything from doting donkeys to kitsch celebrity caricatures.
At No 8 you'll find the workshop of Giuseppe Ferrigno Offline map Google map ( Via
San Gregorio Armeno 8;

STREET

CS to Via Duomo) , whose terracotta figurines are the most

famous on the strip.