Complex of Santa Maria degli Angeli alle Croci

by Salvatore Di Liello

Since 1935, the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Naples has been located in the sixteenth-century Franciscan convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli alle Croci.
It is named after the crosses that, in memory of the stages of Calvary, dotted the ascent from the present-day Via Foria.
The suburban location of the religious complex, peripheral to the historic city but close to the major nineteenth-century road, prompted Gioacchino Murat's decision to assign the complex to the Ministry of the Interior, with a decree to establish a Veterinary School.
This school continued the tradition of one established by Ferdinando IV in 1795, which had designated the Serraglio near the Cavalleria barracks at the Maddalena Bridge as an infirmary for the recovery of sick horses from the Royal Regiments.
Initially, it was open only to career military personnel but later, from 1802, it admitted civilians as well.
Sixteenth-century sources, particularly the chronicle by the Jesuit Giovan Francesco Araldo written between 1552 and 1596, document the start of construction of the church and convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli on March 16, 1581, "under the masonry of Miradois," described as "a beautiful place, one of the most beautiful that the Franciscans have in Naples."
The attractiveness of its location can be seen in Alessandro Baratta's 1629 view, where the church facade with three arches and a pediment can be recognized.
This is confirmed by descriptions by Celano in 1692, which describe the complex as a "very cheerful church" with a "charming appearance."
Celano's pages also provide detailed accounts of the Baroque modernization of the church, promoted by the influential Friar Giovanni da Napoli.
He was appointed provincial of the Order of Observant Franciscans by Pope Urban VIII and played a key role in a vast program of work aimed at enriching the church's new appearance with elements and artworks from other conventual buildings.
The ambitious project also envisioned connecting the convent complex to the coast by creating a broad road that would reach the sea.
This would have an impact on the sixteenth-century Sant'Antonio Abate neighbourhood and make the church visible from the city's main vantage points.
Cosimo Fanzago and Belisario Corenzio were the artists involved in the seventeenth-century renovation of the complex.
The former designed the deep atrium that originally housed the choir, which was later altered into a facade with the closure of the side chambers in the nineteenth century.
Fanzago also created the refined internal decoration of the church, characterized by an austere chromatic palette of white and grey marbles that balanced artistic quality with the Observant Franciscans' rule of rigor and poverty.
The arches of the cloister were adorned with more vibrant frescoes executed by Corenzio and his workshop, depicting Marian scenes and coats of arms of Neapolitan families involved in the renovation works.

From the volume "Passeggiando per la Federico II" (second updated edition) edited by Alessandro Castagnaro - photographs by Roberto Fellicò - FedOAPress