Monumental Complex Donnaregina (Naples, Italy)
Monumental Complex Donnaregina
The Monumental Complex Donnaregina represents a unicum in the panorama of the Neapolitan historic center where the oldest buildings have been transformed by the redundant Baroque decoration which, after the Council of Trent, has invaded with marble inlays, walls, and floors to the detriment of the previous paintings.
In this Franciscan monastic insula, however, remains of the ancient convent and the two original churches, the medieval and the seventeenth-century, conceived, up to the 1930s, as a single structure with a corridor that, like a sort of cordon umbilical, in addition to the apses, it united past and present, allowing the Poor Clares to move without leaving the places of the enclosure.
Today, through the original architecture and decorations, we can find rare examples of the history of Neapolitan art and the Franciscan order.
You can admire the fourteenth-century church of Donnaregina Vecchia and the seventeenth-century church of Donnaregina Nuova.
Paintings from the many Neapolitan churches and the Cathedral are exhibited. Among the many we find paintings by Luca Giordano, Aniello Falcone, Andrea Vaccaro, Francesco Solimena, Massimo Stanzione, Charles Mellin, Mattia Preti, Paolo De Mattei .
Precious liturgical objects in gold and silver are also visible and of particular value is the Stauroteca di San Leonzio, a reliquary cross with a fragment of the Holy Cross in filigree gold from the 12th century, with gems and cloisonnés enamels.
The complex is the perfect place to get lost in the magic of Italian music in the center of Naples.