Worship and Magnificence in Naples between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age: The Case of Noble Chapels

Mariano Saggiomo

The magnificence and extraordinary historical-artistic value of buildings such as the Sansevero Chapel, the Pontano Chapel, and the Brancaccio Chapel, all in the heart of ancient Naples, constitutes only a very small part of a phenomenon that is as vast as it is neglected by historians. Aristocratic chapels, or Eigenkirchen, are in fact widespread and as such not only limited to Naples but present throughout the Christian world; to recall only a few Italian examples of exceptional importance, one need only think of the system of aristocratic parishes in Genoa (of the Doria, Spinola, Carmignani etc. families), or of the Paduan Scrovegni Chapel, stunningly frescoed by Giotto at the beginning of the 14th century. However, in mediaeval and modern Naples this special type of sacred building reached a conspicuous prominence, numbering as many as a hundred cases. This can be explained by the needs for aristocratic self-representation typical of the ancient city, structured in seggi (neighborhoods or quarters), where constant political and social tensions demanded material evidence of the status and power achieved by the various lineages.
As a specific phenomenon of aristocratic behaviour and urban context, chapels are therefore important because they allow us to read civic space from a privileged point of view, especially with respect to those continuous additions and subtractions that, according to André Corboz (2001), establish the concept of the ‘city as palimpsest.’ Therefore by study these chapels, this project intends to clarify the logic of the settlement of the city’s elite in the main historical seat of Naples, namely that of Capuana, whose pre-eminence is testified by the presence of the Cathedral. In particular, the proposal is to establish a dialogue between the history of some of Capuana’s aristocratic churches not only with the history of the houses of the aristocratic class located in the same district but also with the history of the chapels inside the Cathedral itself. On this basis, it becomes possible to shed light first on the logic of the institution, second on the preservation and transmission of the patronage, and third on the reasons for the dedications of places of worship and the devotional choices behind the artistic commissions. In doing so, the hope is to increase knowledge of ancient toponymy and to encourage a reading of historical cartography that can complement the representation of the thematic digital map undertaken by the Bibliotheca Hertziana as part of the Naples Digital Archive.