Naples: The Duomo

The Duomo of Naples or cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is a complex building, or perhaps rather a building complex. This complex consists of the early Christian church and former cathedral of Santa Restituta, the adjacent baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte, the medieval cathedral itself and lastly the seventeenth-century Cappella or Tesoro di San Gennaro. In everyday conversation the building is sometimes referred to as the cathedral of San Gennaro. Januarius of Benevento, who according to tradition was martyred at the start of the fourth century, is considered the patron saint of Naples. However, ever since the Middle Ages, the Neapolitan cathedral has been dedicated to the Virgin Mary and her Assumption. The early Christian cathedral of Santa Restituta is in its turn dedicated to a female martyr from Africa who is said to have died for her faith in the same time as Januarius. She is sometimes considered one of the 49 martyrs of Abitinae (in present-day Tunisia). The baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte is of course dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, like so many other baptisteries in and around Italy.

Santa Restituta

Around the year 61 Saint Paul the Apostle landed in Campania at the city of Puteoli. Puteoli is currently known as Pozzuoli and is very close to Naples. It should therefore not come as a surprise that Naples had a Christian community early on. The construction of the first cathedral of the city can be dated to the fourth century. There is a tradition, which can be found in the Liber Pontificalis, that it was the emperor Constantine the Great (306-337) himself who commissioned the cathedral. Whether this is true or not, there can be no doubt that the Santa Restituta is the oldest Christian church in Naples. Like Constantine’s Basilica of the Saviour in Rome, the cathedral of Naples was originally dedicated to none other than Jesus Christ. The dedication to the somewhat obscure Saint Restituta did not take place until the eighth century. At the end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century bishop Stephanus of Naples built a second church next to the cathedral. It was called the Basilica Stefania after him, but it has not been preserved: when the new cathedral was constructed at the end of the thirteenth century, the Basilica Stefania was demolished.

The Santa Restituta is nowadays basically a chapel of the Duomo. Its columns from Antiquity can still be considered original, but other than that not much remains of the early Christian building. At the end of the seventeenth century the former cathedral was remodelled in Baroque style by the architect Arcangelo Guglielmelli (1648-1723). The Baroque decorations are nothing out of the ordinary, but fortunately we can still find a genuine masterpiece from the Middle Ages in the large chapel of the Madonna del Principio on the left side. I am referring to a mosaic from 1322 by the Umbrian artist Lello da Orvieto. The mosaic features the Madonna and Child, seated on a throne. The Christ child – who in the proper Byzantine tradition is more of a mini adult – is holding a large processional cross. Above the throne we see a dove symbolising the Holy Spirit.

The saints flanking the throne are Restituta (right) and Januarius (left). Restituta’s relics are kept in this chapel. In the mosaic she is wearing a martyr’s crown made of flowers, while her right hand clutches a book with the text VENI SPONSA XPI ACCIPE CORONAM (“come bride of Christ, accept your crown”; perhaps a variant of Song of Songs 4:8). Januarius is dressed as a bishop (of Benevento, not of Naples). The text of his book reads BEATVS VIR QVI INVENTVS EST SINE MACVLA. This text is from the deuterocanonical Book of Sirach (31:8) and can be translated as “blessed is the man who turns out to be faultless”.

San Giovanni in Fonte

According to an information panel in the baptistery, San Giovanni in Fonte is the oldest baptistery in the Christian West. It is a claim that is repeated in my travel guide, but there is every reason to challenge it. The aforementioned information panel asserts that the baptistery was built long before the Lateran Baptistery in Rome. That baptistery was almost certainly erected during the reign of the emperor Constantine, possibly between 320 and 330. The baptistery in Naples was – again according to the information panel – built by bishop Severus, bishop of Naples in the second half of the fourth century. It therefore seems fair to conclude that the Neapolitan baptistery is several decades younger than its counterpart in Rome. The beautiful mosaics of the former baptistery are, however, definitely older than those of the Lateran Baptistery, which were only added in the seventh century (and are formally not even part of the baptistery itself, but of an adjacent chapel). The information panel, by the way, proudly declares that the Neapolitan mosaics are also much more beautiful than those in Rome and Ravenna. This is of course a matter of taste, but there is no denying that the mosaics are magnificent. It is therefore ever so lamentable that large chunks of them have been lost.

The mosaics presumably date from the fifth century and are clearly not yet affected by the later Byzantine style. It is quite conceivable that the walls of the baptistery once had mosaics (and other decorations) as well, but nowadays we must content ourselves with the mosaics of the dome, roughly half of which have been preserved. In the centre we see a staurogram or Tau-Rho symbol, which symbolises Christ (image above). It is accompanied by the Greek letters alpha and omega, beginning and end. The staurogram was laid against a starry blue sky, of which we have also seen examples in Ravenna. Above the Tau-Rho we see the hand of God, and above the Hand there is – upside down – a phoenix, the bird that arises from its own ashes. The phoenix obviously symbolises the Resurrection. In Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages it was a very common Christian symbol.

In the mosaics we furthermore see scenes from the life of Jesus, which are unfortunately not always easy to interpret due to the extensive damage. What is clear, though, is that many scenes are associated with water and the sacrament of baptism. In one scene we for instance see both Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and the Wedding at Cana (image above). Both stories are from the Gospel of John and both have a connection with water: the encounter with the woman takes place at Jacob’s Well, while at Cana water was changed into wine. The face of Christ was regretfully lost, but the well and the Samaritan woman (with a little bucket in her hand) are still intact. To her right we see the jugs and amphorae of the wedding. Other scenes are a bit more complex. A man standing on the shore, a lake full of fish and a man on a boat (image below): is this the miraculous multiplication of the fish, Saint Peter walking on water or the calling of Saint Peter and his brother Saint Andrew? We would no doubt have known the answer if it had not been for the damage.

A scene that is a lot easier to interpret, is that of the Traditio Legis, of Christ handing over the law to Saint Peter. In a way the scene even has a caption, as the scroll that Christ gives to the first among his disciples features the text DOMINVS LEGEM DAT (“the Lord gives the Law”). It is an image that we also know from Rome. In addition to Saint Peter, Saint Paul has been depicted as well, but only the lower part of his body survives. That basically sums up the scenes that are reasonably intelligible. A fragmentary seated man in a toga is assumed to be the angel at Christ’s empty tomb. If this identification is correct, then there must have once been three pious women to his left (a small piece of a woman’s face is still visible). The scene of the Baptism of Christ, which the mosaicists cannot reasonably have omitted, has been lost in its entirety. We therefore have to content ourselves with a reconstruction on the information panel in the baptistery.

The baptistery has four apses, containing the symbols of the four evangelists. The lion of Saint Mark and the angel of Saint Matthew are still almost entirely intact, while the ox representing Saint Luke looks rather tattered and the eagle of Saint John is gone. Above the symbols of the evangelists we see bucolic scenes with shepherds, sheep, deer and birds. We also see a number of men in togas, with crowns, scrolls and codices. As there are no captions, it is not clear who these men are. Perhaps they are the prophets whose works preceded the four gospels.

Santa Maria Assunta and Tesoro di San Gennaro

The construction of a new cathedral started under King Charles II of Anjou (1285-1309). The ancient Basilica Stefania was demolished and the former cathedral of Santa Restituta was incorporated into the new building as a chapel. The new cathedral was completed in 1313 during the reign of King Robert the Wise, the son of Charles II. The next year the building was dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta. Some sources report that the construction of the Duomo started a bit earlier, during the reign of Charles I of Anjou (1266-1285), the father of Charles II and founder of the Angevin dynasty. The claim is probably not correct, although Charles I was in fact buried in the Duomo. Above the central entrance we find his funerary monument. The king shares the monument with his grandson Charles Martel (1271-1295) and Charles Martel’s wife Clemence of Habsburg. It should be noted that we are not looking at the original monument, which was lost. What we see today is a sixteenth-century monument that was commissioned by the Spanish viceroy of Naples and made by Domenico Fontana (1543-1607).

The façade of the new cathedral was provided with sculptures by the Tuscan sculptor Tino di Camaino (ca. 1285-1337). More sculptures were later added by Antonio Baboccio da Piperno (ca. 1351-1435). Fortunately some of their work survives. In the lunette above the main entrance we for instance see a Madonna and Child by Tino, while the figures of Saint Peter (left) and Saint Januarius (right) are by Antonio. The kneeling figure, also by Antonio, is cardinal Enrico Minutolo (died 1412), archbishop of Naples between 1389 and 1400. We will meet him again inside. The side portals also have original sculptures by Antonio, but most of the façade was rebuilt in Neo-Gothic style between 1877 and 1905. The architect who designed the façade was Errico Alvino (1809-1872), who unfortunately did not live long enough to see his artistic creation becoming reality.

The medieval cathedral was heavily damaged by earthquakes in 1349 and 1456. At the end of the fifteenth century a project to build a crypt was launched. The crypt became known as the Cappella del Succorpo and was specifically intended for the relics of Saint Januarius. In the fifth century the remains of this saint had been taken from Benevento to Naples, but in the ninth century they were returned to Benevento. In the twelfth century they were moved again, this time to the abbey of Montevergine. However, somehow the head of the saint had ended up in Naples, and as a consequence a strong cult of Saint Januarius had sprung up there. Thanks to cardinal Oliviero Carafa and his brother Alessandro Carafa, who both held the position of archbishop of Naples, the other relics were translated from Montevergine to Naples in 1497. They were enshrined in the Cappella del Succorpo, which was decorated with sculptures by Tommaso Malvito (died ca. 1508).

Saint Januarius continued to perform miracles for the Neapolitans, for instance during epidemics. This quickly led to the thought to construct yet another chapel for the saint. Ultimately the immense Tesoro di San Gennaro was built on the right side of the cathedral. The design of the chapel is by Francesco Grimaldi (1543-1613) and its construction started in 1608, but the Tesoro was not completed until long after Grimaldi’s death, i.e. in 1646. Several famous Baroque architects contributed to the new chapel. Cosimo Fanzago (1591-1678) for instance made the entrance porch and Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647) painted the ceiling fresco, while Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) designed the altar. In the chapel we also find works by Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652) and Domenichino (1581-1641). A very special object is a reliquary of gold and silver, made by French smiths in 1305. In the Tesoro di San Gennaro two vials containing the blood of the saint are kept. The vials are shown to the faithful three times a year. If the blood liquifies, this is seen as a good omen. The skull of Januarius is also kept in the Tesoro.

Outside the cathedral the patron saint of Naples is honoured in a special way as well. When the Vesuvius erupted at the end of 1631, Januarius was said to have saved the city. To thank him for his intervention a guglia (spire) of San Gennaro was erected several years later. It can be found on the Piazza Cardinale Sisto Riario Sforza to the right of the cathedral. The Guglia di San Gennaro was designed by the aforementioned Cosimo Fanzago, while the bronze statue of Januarius was made by the relatively unknown Tommaso Montani. The monument was completed in 1660 and is the oldest of the three guglie in Naples. The other two are situated near the churches of San Domenico and Santa Chiara.

Now back to the cathedral itself. In 1621 the Duomo was provided with its current coffered ceiling. A series of renovations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries then gave it a Baroque interior. The slender ancient columns with their splendid Corinthian capitals were incorporated into robust square pillars in the process. Like so many other buildings in Naples, the Duomo too suffered severe damage during World War Two. This necessitated restorations, which at the same time provided archaeologists with an opportunity to do research. Inside the Duomo we still find two chapels that have kept their medieval appearance. I personally consider them to be the most interesting of the building.

The first chapel is the Cappella Minutolo to the far right of the apse (image above). The chapel is decorated with frescoes by Montano d’Arezzo, a Tuscan painter whose stay in Assisi and Rome had provided him with intimate knowledge of the work of Giotto and Pietro Cavallini (see Naples: San Lorenzo Maggiore). Unfortunately I could only admire the frescoes from a distance: because of restoration works the chapel was not accessible to the public. The large fifteenth-century funerary monument in the Cappella Minutolo is that of cardinal Enrico Minutolo, already mentioned above. The other two tombs belong to Orso and Filippo Minutolo. Orso Minutolo was archbishop of Otranto (1329-1330) and then of Salerno (1330-1333), while Filippo Minutolo served as archbishop of Naples (1288-1301).

The other interesting chapel is the Cappella dei Santi Tiburzio e Susanna on the right side. The highlight in the chapel is the tomb of cardinal Francesco Carbone, who was born in Naples. Carbone died in 1405 and in the years after his death a beautiful funerary monument was made by the aforementioned Antonio Baboccio da Piperno. Regretfully the chapel was closed during my visit to the Duomo. I had to admire cardinal Carbone’s monument through the bars of the gates.

My Capitool travel guide for Naples (2018 edition, p. 85-87) served as a base for this post. Useful additional information came from the information panels in the Duomo, Home – Naples Cathedral (cattedraledinapoli.it), Duomo di Napoli – Wikipedia and a large number of other Wikipedia pages.