50minuti
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Unlimited
Church or Place of Worship
Pets allowed
Suitable for children
Supports in English or French
Parking available
Couples
Barrier-free
The Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore is one of the most interesting monumental basilicas of Naples. It is located in the Old City Center, at the end of San Gregorio Armeno, where Piazza San Gaetano begins. From number 316 of the square you can also access the route of La Neapolis Sotterrata to visit the Roman market under the complex of San Lorenzo Maggiore.
The Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore is a must for those who want to travel back in time and is rightfully part of the underground itineraries of Naples.
Adjacent to the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore is the convent that has hosted thousands of believers. Among them stand out two names of artists who have marked in their own way the millennial history of Italian literature, namely Giovanni Boccaccio and Francesco Petrarch.
Boccaccio was in Naples in 1334 when, after seeing her at the Holy Saturday mass held in the church, he fell in love with his muse Fiammetta. It is thought to be Maria d’Aquino, daughter of King Robert of Anjou.
Petrarch, on the other hand, was hosted in the church in the year 1343 and found himself witnessing a tremendous tidal wave that hit the city of Naples. He described this natural calamity in a letter to his friend Giovanni Colonna contained in the Familiarium rerum liber.
In this church it was possible to witness several pieces of history that make up the great Neapolitan fresco: in particular, St. Ludwig of Toulouse, son of Charles II of Anjou and renouncer of the throne in favor of his brother Robert of Anjou, was consecrated priest in this basilica wanted by Charles I of Anjou. Inside the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore was consecrated the future Pope Sixtus V, born Felice Peretti.
The construction of the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore was requested in 1235 by Pope Gregory IX, pontiff of the Catholic Church between 1227 and 1241. Gregory IX ratified the intention of wanting to build a church dedicated to San Lorenzo and as a place was chosen where there was already an early Christian church dedicated to the saint, expanded according to the canons of the time.
The real works began well after the departure of Pope Gregory IX, in 1270, thanks to Charles I of Anjou. The sovereign in fact decided to subsidize with conspicuous donations the realization of the church, which resulted in the end a mixture of different styles, ranging between the French Gothic style and the more austere Franciscan one.
The French architects took care of the apse, considered the only example of French Gothic in Italy. Going beyond the apse, instead, it is possible to see the Italian Gothic style, witnessing the change of designers and workers who followed one another during the years during the construction of the temple. The temple has been remodeled numerous times over the centuries, due to numerous earthquakes that hit the area.
We can note the Baroque style introduced from the sixteenth century, with the addition of columns decorated with stucco, various resizing of windows and Gothic arches and the whitewashing of frescoes.
The restorations from 1882 to the whole of the 20th century restored the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore to its original splendour, except for the façade and the counter-façade, by Ferdinando Sanfelice and the Chapel of Saint Anthony and the Cacace Chapel, by Cosimo Fanzago.
The basilica currently has a Latin cross plan and numerous side chapels along the length of the nave. Numerous are the works of art contained inside, among which the Adoration of the Magi by Marco Dal Pino, the sepulchral monument of Ludovico Aldomorisco, counsellor of King Ladislao of Durazzo and a 1438 table by Leonardo da Besozzo representing Saint Anthony and angels.
Neapolis Sotterrata is one of the most interesting complexes in the historical center of Naples. It descends to a depth of ten meters under the Monumental Complex of San Lorenzo Maggiore. Here you can admire part of the macellum, a Roman market of the first century AD, a rectangular porticoed space with stores and mosaic floors.
Going down to the lower levels you can immerse yourself even more in the complex structure of the city by crossing the route of an ancient road that, spread over three wings, supported the market above and defined the lower portion of the Forum. The Forum had nine stores for commercial and artisan activities, each with two barrel-vaulted rooms open to the street and at the end of the street one arrived at the cryptoportico, the covered market.
The structure remained so until the thirteenth, when the construction of the convent and the basilica hid it in the bowels of the city, transforming it into the Neapolis Sotterrata that we can visit today.
