Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo

Church Naples, Italy

The church of Gesù Nuovo, or of the Trinità Maggiore, is a monumental church in Naples, located in piazza del Gesù Nuovo in front of the obelisk of the Immaculate Conception and the basilica of Santa Chiara. It is one of the most important and vast churches in the city, among the highest concentrations of Baroque painting and sculpture on which some of the most influential artists of the Neapolitan school worked. Inside is kept the body of Saint Giuseppe Moscati, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1987.

This unusual church was transformed by the Jesuits from 15th century Palazzo San Severino, the one-time residence of the Prince of Salerno, in the late 1700s. Its striking facade, a rare example of bugnato a punta di diamante (ashlar work), was preserved from the palazzo's original facade, while a baroque portal was created to encompass the original Renaissance portal. The church's interior is opulent and features stuccoes, frescoes, and marble decorations by some of Naples's best artists from the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th.