The Monastery of Santa Chiara of Napoli it was born as a court chapel, a place dedicated to religious and civil events during the Angevin domination. The king wanted the important building Roberto d'Angiò with the queen Sancia of Mallorca, his second wife. In fact, the two sovereigns wanted a court chapel worthy of their rank to be dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament. In addition to the chapel, a Franciscan convent was designed to accommodate the friars who took care of liturgical functions and a monastery for the cloistered order of the Poor Clares. The monumental complex consisting of church, monastery, cloister and bell tower, took the name of Santa Chiara precisely from the presence of the cloistered nuns.
History
The construction of the monumental complex began in 1310 and was completed in 1328. The church, built by Gagliardo Primario, has a single nave with ten chapels on each side. In the sacred building are buried the rulers of the Angevin house and the most important dignitaries of court. The tomb of King Robert is imposing, built by the Florentine artists Giovanni and Pacio Bertini, who were also responsible for the main altar and the pulpit.
Subsequently also i Bourbon were buried within the walls of the sacred building. There is little evidence of the extraordinary frescoes by Giotto and the apprentices who are part of his Neapolitan workshop. For over four centuries the complex of Santa Chiara remains unchanged as the Angevins had conceived it. In 1742 Ferdinando Sanfelice and Domenico Vaccaro began working on it together with a group of decorators and architects. The medieval construction is enriched with Baroque embellishments. In 1943 the bombings of the Second Word War they destroy the church which has now recovered its original medieval aspect.
The Cloister
Il Cloister di Santa Chiara is an oasis of peace and tranquility in the heart of Naples. The colonnade with 66 arches remains of the original construction. The garden, as it appears today, was commissioned by the abbess Ippolita Carmignano and was built by Domenico Vaccaro.
The green area has four large flower beds, in turn divided by internal paths with 64 pillars embellished with hand-painted majolica. The majolica decoration is the work of the artisans Donato and Massa. These are polychrome majolica tiles that blend well with the surrounding nature. Part of the garden is Italian-style, with hedges and fountains; another area is dedicated to cultivation.
The Museum
The Santa Chiara Museum has four exhibition rooms: the Archaeological Room with the finds found during the excavations; the History Room where all the artistic changes experienced by the monumental complex are explained; the Sala dei Marmi and the Sala dei Reliquiari where precious sacred urns are exhibited.
Il Museum, opened in 1995, exhibits many finds from the various buildings of the whole monumental complex. Among the many works, the fourteenth-century Frieze of Santa Caterina by the Bertini brothers and the Ecce Homo by Giovanni da Nola, one of the most renowned sculptors of the sixteenth century in Naples.
The archaeological area and the eighteenth-century nativity scene
The monumental complex also has an archaeological area with a thermal area dating back to the XNUMXst century AD. C. discovered in the postwar period. Inside the monastery there is also one of the cribs made in Naples during the reign of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon.
In compliance with the Neapolitan crib tradition, the sacred representation is ideally 'embraced' by the life of the districts of ancient Naples. La Nativity it is placed at the center of the scene and is located in a ruined Roman monument. An emblematic image that signifies the birth of the new Christian era on the rubble of paganism. The set-up is made of papier-mâché, cork and wood; shepherds are made of spun iron, tow and earthenware.
The famous song
Munasterio 'and Santa Chiara is the title of the famous song dedicated to the suggestive and ancient Neapolitan complex. The song was launched in 1945 by James Rondinella and, then over the years, it is taken up with great success by many other artists such as Roberto Murolo, Claudio Villa, Peppino Di Capri and Mina herself. The protagonist of the song is an emigrant who expresses with heartfelt tones the desire to return to his Naples, fearing to find it in ruins after the terrible war conflict. The monastery of Santa Chiara, destroyed by bombs, also thanks to this poignant melody thus becomes the symbol of a whole nation that wants to rise again after having experienced the horror of war.
