Naples Cathedral

Naples Cathedral, the Duomo, is three churches in one: an Angevin Gothic cathedral of the early 14th century, the older basilica of Santa Restituta opening off its aisle, and one of the oldest baptisteries in the West. Its Baroque Chapel of the Treasure keeps the blood of San Gennaro, the city’s patron, which Neapolitans wait to see liquefy three times a year. The cathedral is free; the Treasure museum next door has its own ticket.

Kings, a saint and a city’s vow

The cathedral was begun under the Angevin kings of Naples in the late 13th century — traditionally in 1272 under Charles I of Anjou, though much of the work is dated from about 1290 under Charles II — and finished under Robert of Anjou in 1313; it was dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption in 1314. It swallowed part of an older cathedral, Santa Restituta, which survives as a chapel off the left aisle, and the baptistery beside it. Earthquakes in 1349 and 1456 caused heavy damage (in 1349 the facade and bell tower fell), and the building was repaired many times; the gilded ceiling is 17th-century and the facade a neo-Gothic design by Enrico Alvino, built in 1877–1905.

San Gennaro (St Januarius), a bishop of Benevento martyred around 305, became the city’s protector against plague, war and Vesuvius. In 1527, after siege, plague and an eruption, the city vowed a new chapel to him, and from 1608 the Royal Chapel of the Treasure was built off the right aisle. It belongs not to the Church but to a lay body representing the city, the Deputazione, which still runs it.

The visitor’s cheat sheet

What to see

The nave

The nave and aisles are lined with ancient columns built into the piers. Above the arcades runs a 17th-century gilded coffered ceiling with paintings set into it; at the east end the Baroque apse holds an Assumption. Look for Perugino’s Assumption (1506) in the Cappella Seripando, where the Infopoint is, and the tomb of Pope Innocent IV in the left transept.

The Royal Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro

Halfway down the right aisle, behind a gilded gate designed by Cosimo Fanzago, is the chapel the city built from 1608 to designs by the Theatine Francesco Grimaldi. Domenichino painted the frescoes of the pendentives and lunettes and several altarpieces on copper; after his death in 1641 Giovanni Lanfranco painted the dome with a Paradise. Jusepe de Ribera’s San Gennaro emerging unscathed from the furnace hangs on one of the altars. Silver busts of the city’s patron saints line the walls, and behind the high altar are kept the reliquary bust of San Gennaro and the two ampoules of his blood.

The chapel’s treasure — jewelled mitre, necklace, chalices and silver — is shown in the Museo del Tesoro di San Gennaro, entered separately at Via Duomo 149. Its ticket includes the chapel with an audio guide. The treasure is counted among the richest in the world.

The blood of San Gennaro

Three times a year the archbishop shows the ampoules, and the dried blood inside is expected to turn liquid: on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, the anniversary of the translation of the relics; on 19 September, the saint’s feast; and on 16 December, which recalls the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631. It is usually called a prodigio rather than a miracle; scientists have proposed natural explanations. In popular belief a failure is a bad omen, and the years it failed, such as September 1980, two months before the Irpinia earthquake, are remembered. On these days the cathedral fills long before the doors open.

The Succorpo

Under the high altar is the crypt known as the Succorpo, built in white marble for Cardinal Oliviero Carafa between 1497 and 1508 to receive the saint’s body, brought back from Montevergine. It is carved by Tommaso Malvito, and a kneeling statue of the cardinal faces the altar.

Santa Restituta and the baptistery

Off the left aisle is the Basilica of Santa Restituta, traditionally founded in the 4th century and the city’s first cathedral; it lost part of its length when the Gothic cathedral was built, and was remodelled in the late 17th century. Its Cappella di Santa Maria del Principio has an early 14th-century mosaic by Lello da Orvieto. Beyond it is the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte, founded by Bishop Severus around 400 and one of the oldest baptisteries in the West; fragments of its original mosaics survive in the dome. Both are seen on free guided visits that leave every half hour from the Infopoint in the Cappella Seripando, in the left aisle.

Getting there

The cathedral is on Via Duomo, at the eastern end of the historic centre, about ten minutes’ walk from the Cappella Sansevero along Via dei Tribunali. The nearest metro stations are Duomo (Line 1), to the south down Via Duomo, and Museo (Line 1) or Piazza Cavour (Line 2), to the north-west. The Pio Monte della Misericordia, with Caravaggio’s Seven Works of Mercy, is a few minutes away on Via dei Tribunali.

Don’t miss

• The Chapel of the Treasure Domenichino and Lanfranco, behind Fanzago’s gate.
• The baptistery Mosaics of around 400.
• Santa Restituta The first cathedral, inside the second.
• The Succorpo Renaissance marble under the high altar.
• 19 September The feast, if you can stand the crowd.

Insider tips

More churches in Italy

• Cappella Sansevero, Naples — the Veiled Christ, ten minutes’ walk away.
• Amalfi Cathedral — another Campanian cathedral, built for the relics of St Andrew.
• San Vitale, Ravenna — for early Christian mosaic on a grander scale.

See all the Italian churches in this guide →