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Gesù Nuovo

A church that kept the front wall of the palace it was built out of, with one of the great baroque interiors of Naples behind it.

Diamond-Point Facade • Painted Vaults • The Moscati Chapel

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Your Perfect Visit

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Location: Piazza del Gesù Nuovo

At the western end of Spaccanapoli, facing the square and the marble spire

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The Facade: A Palace Wall

Diamond-point ashlar kept from the Sanseverino palace of 1470

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Inside: Neapolitan Baroque

Solimena, Ribera, Giordano, Lanfranco and Stanzione, all in one building

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The Chapel: Saint Giuseppe Moscati

The Naples doctor canonised in 1987, buried in the Chapel of the Visitation

🏛️ Why Visit

The front is a wall of stone pyramids, grey and blank, and it belonged to a palace before it belonged to a church. Behind it the building changes completely: marble, gilding and painted vaults the length of the nave, with chapels down both sides. It stands on Piazza del Gesù Nuovo, at the western end of the Spaccanapoli walk, with Santa Chiara's bell tower at the far end of the square.

📜 A Little History

The palace went up in 1470 for Roberto Sanseverino, prince of Salerno, and the diamond-point stone is its original front. The Jesuits took the site in 1584 and built the church behind that wall to Giuseppe Valeriano's design, consecrating it on 7 October 1601. The dome was finished in 1634 and did not last. It came down in the earthquake of 1688, went again in part in 1774, and in 1786 Ignazio di Nardo replaced it with the shallow painted vault that is there now.

💡 Did You Know?

The pyramids on the facade carry small incised marks and nobody has settled what they are. One reading, put forward by the art historian Vincenzo De Pasquale, takes them as musical notation to be read from the top down and from right to left, and the resulting piece has been performed under the title Enigma. Other scholars accept the enigma and not the notation. Stonecutters' marks and esoteric symbols are the two alternatives usually offered.

Where to stay nearby

🛏️ Sleep on the Piazza

A room near Piazza del Gesù Nuovo puts you at the western end of Spaccanapoli, with the old centre running east from…

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The Front

The Stone

The church wears the wall of the palace it was built into, cut into pyramids and left that way.

The pyramidal diamond-point facade of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
A Field of PyramidsThe front of the Gesù Nuovo is cut into hundreds of stone pyramids, set one beside the next across the whole wall.
The carved marble portal and studded door of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
The PortalThe doorway breaks the pattern, with columns, a carved tympanum and a studded door set into the grey stone.
A carved Latin tablet of 1470 set into the diamond-point wall of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
The Architect's TabletA tablet of 1470 set into the wall names Novello da San Lucano, who built the palace this church was later made from.
A city information panel on the diamond-point wall of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
The Stele on the WallThe city's panel names the church and says it stands in the Sanseverino palace, reusing the diamond stone that was already here.
Through the Door

Inside

Behind the grey stone front, a painted and gilded interior.

The nave and high altar of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
InsideThe nave runs ahead to the high altar under a painted ceiling.
The marble high altar of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples, figures above a crucifix group
The High AltarMarble figures stand over a crucifix group, with DEUS ABSCONDITUS HEIC cut into the band across the front.
Side chapels and the inlaid marble floor of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
Marble All the Way DownChapels and altars run down both sides, and the floor is inlaid marble from wall to wall.
Painted vaults and the dome above the crossing of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
OverheadThe vaults carry painting into every corner, and the dome opens above the crossing.
The painted dome of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples, seen from below
The DomeStraight up into the dome, where the painting keeps going.
Along the Sides

The Chapels

Altars and statues down both sides, each one its own small room.

The altar of San Francesco Saverio in the Gesù Nuovo, Naples, a recumbent figure above it
San Francesco SaverioThe altar of San Francesco Saverio, named on the band across its front, with the recumbent figure lying above it.
The bronze of San Giuseppe Moscati against a marble wall in the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
Giuseppe MoscatiThe bronze of San Giuseppe Moscati stands against the marble, and the plaque on the plinth records that it was blessed by Giovanni Paolo II on 2 July 1990.
The statue of Nostra Signora di Madhu under its painted canopy, Gesù Nuovo, Naples
Nostra Signora di MadhuUnder a painted canopy stands Nostra Signora di Madhu, named by the panel set up beside her.
A gilded statue of San Giuseppe with the Child in the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
San GiuseppeA gilded San Giuseppe with the Child, named by the prayer card left beside the statue.
A carved wooden confessional against the marble wall of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
The ConfessionalA carved wooden confessional set against the marble, with a Station of the Cross in relief above it.
Outside Again

The Piazza

Back out in the square, with Santa Chiara's bell tower at the other end of it.

The bell tower of Santa Chiara seen past the wall of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples
Across the PiazzaFrom the piazza the Santa Chiara bell tower shows between the Gesù Nuovo's wall and the flank of the church.
The stone bell tower of Santa Chiara rising above pine trees in Naples
The CampanileThe Santa Chiara campanile stands over the pines at the far end of the square.

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Local Tips

  • Stand back in the square before you go in. The diamond-point wall reads as one surface from a distance and breaks into a field of separate blocks as you get close to it.
  • Turn round as you leave. Solimena frescoed the Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple across the entrance wall in 1725, so it faces the door and you only meet it on the way out.
  • What is over the crossing is not a dome. The real one came down twice, and Ignazio di Nardo's shallow vault of 1786 is painted in false perspective to stand in for it.
  • The Moscati chapel is part of the visit rather than a detour from it. His rooms and his effects are kept beside it, and the chapel holds a great many silver ex-votos left in thanks, shaped as the body parts they were offered for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the church with the strange stone front?
Yes. The pyramidal, or diamond-point, ashlar on Piazza del Gesù Nuovo is the surviving front wall of the palace built for Roberto Sanseverino in 1470. The Jesuits kept it and built the church behind it.
Where is Saint Giuseppe Moscati buried?
Under the altar of the Chapel of the Visitation, inside this church. Moscati was a Naples physician who died in 1927, was beatified in 1975 and was canonised by John Paul II on 25 October 1987.
Is there a dome?
Not any more. The first was finished in 1634, fell in the earthquake of 1688 and partly again in 1774, and in 1786 it was replaced by a shallow vault painted to look deeper than it is.
Do the marks on the facade mean anything?
Nobody has settled it. They have been read as musical notation, as stonecutters' marks and as esoteric symbols, and none of the three has carried the argument.

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