Church of Santi Demetrio e Bonifacio

by Giovanni Menna

The main auditorium of the Department of Architecture of the Federico II University is currently housed in the church of Santi Demetrio e Bonifacio, which was built by the Somaschi fathers in the present-day piazza Teodoro Monticelli, created only in the first half of the 18th century, between via dei Banchi Nuovi and via Donnalbina.
The church was dedicated to both saints in order to distinguish it from another church dedicated solely to Saint Demetrius, previously built as part of an early medieval complex.
A Basilian and later Benedictine monastery, which had undergone complex changes over the centuries, it was reconstructed by Teresa Colletta, who skilfully and convincingly traced its history over thirteen centuries.
The construction of the church began at the end of the 17th century, initially commissioned to the royal engineer Antonio Guidetti (1696), who presented a model that was rejected, and then to Carlo Fontana (1698), who proposed a circular temple with a dome and a façade flanked by two bell towers, which also was unsuccessful.
Finally, Giovanni Battista Nauclerio was entrusted with the project, based on which the church that we see today was built between 1706 and 1725.
It is likely that it did not have a direct entrance from the outside, but rather through the sacristy, connected by a triangular staircase extending to the adjacent Palazzo Penne, which housed the Somaschi house and College.
The church was therefore designed as an architectural ‘invasion without a façade’; however, it is the spatial qualities of the interior that make it one of the most significant achievements of the first quarter of the 18th century in Naples, despite its modest size, which is due to the skilful articulation of its structural components and an original mastery of architectural orders.
The plan is based on a nearly quadrilobate Greek cross layout, with the ends of the arms shaped as flattened semi-elliptical exedras, except for the one located opposite the entrance, which culminates in a deeper, almost semicircular apse in order to provide more space for the presbytery, resulting in a maximum length of twenty-eight metres along the entrance-altar axis.
The clarity and unity that characterise the work compensate for the simplicity of a façade created with limited means, added later and preceded by a small raised and fenced forecourt that serves as a filter between the square and the church.
The interior is extremely bright: the need for light, given the proximity of the surrounding buildings, prompted Nauclerio to construct a beautiful dome, featuring eight windows and supported by sturdy pillars, placed at a considerable height compared to the plan dimensions (28 m).
Nauclerio later relied on the giant order to connect not only the dome with the space below but also the side wings with the central space, as the large pilasters inserted at the back of the wings are orientated towards the centre, thus emphasising the central layout.
The repetition of the pilasters and their reflection on the projecting cornice of the entablature – which Nauclerio also used for the façade of San Giovanni Battista delle Monache – introduces a delicate chiaroscuro effect where the pilasters meet at a 45-degree angle.
This alone renders any further plastic emphasis unnecessary, making it one of the most beautiful examples in Naples of the transition from the 17th to the 18th century in terms of architectural order.

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