{"id":17427,"date":"2022-12-01T16:51:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T01:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shop.movery.it\/arte-presepiale-napoletana\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T10:15:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T09:15:37","slug":"arte-presepiale-napoletana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/arte-presepiale-napoletana\/","title":{"rendered":"Nativity art in Naples: the origins of the nativity scene and the history of San Gregorio Armeno"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_68_1 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/arte-presepiale-napoletana\/#Le_origini_del_presepe_a_Napoli\" title=\"The origins of the nativity scene in Naples\">The origins of the nativity scene in Naples<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/arte-presepiale-napoletana\/#San_Gregorio_Armeno_cuore_pulsante_dellarte_presepiale_napoletana\" title=\"San Gregorio Armeno: beating heart of Neapolitan nativity art\">San Gregorio Armeno: beating heart of Neapolitan nativity art<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"0 0 []\">The <strong>nativity scene<\/strong> to <strong>Naples<\/strong>, in addition to being an integral part of the collective imagination and Christmas tradition, is a true form of '<strong>art<\/strong>, which has nothing to envy from other types of sculptural or pictorial works; on the contrary, it blends together different techniques.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Le_origini_del_presepe_a_Napoli\"><\/span>The origins of the nativity scene in Naples<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The origins of the first nativity scene go way back to the small village of <strong>Rieti<\/strong> in 1223, where <strong>St. Francis<\/strong> decided to create the <strong>nativity<\/strong> in its simplest, purest and most stripped-down form: the <strong>child<\/strong>, the <strong>cave<\/strong>, the <strong>ox<\/strong> and the<strong>small donkey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The Neapolitan nativity scene as we understand it today, however, will come into being later, and will become a transposition of the nativity of Jesus into the city reality of the Naples of the <strong>Eighteenth century<\/strong>. Around 1340, thanks to a<strong> Franciscan order<\/strong>, an early draft of what would become the modern nativity scene was created, with a series of wooden representations at human height placed in front of a painted backdrop.<\/p>\n<p>The first <strong>revolution<\/strong> artistic nativity scene took place by <strong>Gaetano da Thiene<\/strong> at <strong>Five hundred<\/strong>, who decided to add for the first time the characters of the <strong>people<\/strong> to the composition with <strong>Jesus<\/strong>, <strong>Joseph <\/strong>and <strong>Mary<\/strong>, giving rise to the<strong>union<\/strong> between <strong>sacred<\/strong> and<strong> layman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Subsequently, the \"<strong>fashion<\/strong>\" of the nativity scene in Neapolitan homes, and credit goes to <strong>Charles III of Bourbon<\/strong>, who became so passionate about this art that he took it with him even to <strong>Spain<\/strong>; it was at this very moment that the humble little cave that saw the birth of the<strong> Salvatore<\/strong>, was transformed into a complete landscape filled with mountains, waterfalls, roaring rivers, stairways, and everyday characters going about their chores or anxiously awaiting birth.<\/p>\n<p>I <strong>noble<\/strong> began to compete with each other for the most beautiful nativity scene, the one that would win the appreciation of the <strong>Re<\/strong>, getting into his good graces. The characters were no longer made life-size, but in <strong>small scale<\/strong> from real <strong>craftsmen<\/strong>, who with painstaking care created with their own hands the so-called \"<strong>shepherds<\/strong>\", the classic <strong>Neapolitan commoners<\/strong> as peasants, shepherds, beggars, fishermen, people of the people in taverns or housewives intent on hanging out clothes on the balcony.<\/p>\n<p>Devoting oneself to the making of the crib was not just a pastime, but a real <strong>trade<\/strong>: women of the court used <strong>fabrics<\/strong> and <strong>tessut<\/strong>i from the <strong>royal factories <\/strong>by <strong>San Leucio<\/strong> to make miniature clothes, while the <strong>goldsmiths<\/strong> of the city produced small <strong>jewelry<\/strong> that would adorn the most important and deserving statuettes.<\/p>\n<p>Prominent artists include. <strong>Joseph Sammartino<\/strong>, the founder of a school of crib artists,\u00a0<strong>Saverio Vassallo<\/strong>, specializing in the making of animals, and\u00a0<strong>Michael Perrone<\/strong>, exponent of the <strong>baroque <\/strong>Neapolitan who with his contribution succeeded in making the figurines more realistic by devising <strong>dummies <\/strong>by <strong>wood<\/strong> with a thread of <strong>iron<\/strong> to bind the limbs so that they had more \"human\" poses.<\/p>\n<p>When in the<strong>Nineteenth century<\/strong> this fashion faded, many buildings were dismantled or dispersed. Fortunately, two magnificent works have survived to the present day: the <strong>Royal Crib<\/strong>, exposed to the<strong> Royal Palace of Caserta<\/strong>, and the one donated to the city of Naples by the writer\u00a0<strong>Michele Cuciniello<\/strong>, stored in the <strong>Museum of Nativity Scenes <\/strong>of\u00a0<strong>Charterhouse of San Martino<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The nativity scene not only tells of a past religious tradition, but also encapsulates the essence of Naples with its popular beliefs. Certain elements, in fact, are never missing from the nativity scenes in every Neapolitan home, for example the <strong>sleeping shepherd boy Benino<\/strong>, to which the <strong>angels<\/strong> announce in a dream the birth of the baby Jesus, the <strong>market<\/strong>, l'<strong>tavern<\/strong>, the <strong>bridge<\/strong> and the <strong>river<\/strong>, a symbol of divine death and birth.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"San_Gregorio_Armeno_cuore_pulsante_dellarte_presepiale_napoletana\"><\/span>San Gregorio Armeno: beating heart of Neapolitan nativity art<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>San Gregorio Armeno<\/strong> is world famous for being the <strong>Street of Cribs<\/strong>. But how come?<\/p>\n<p>In this location a<strong> temple<\/strong> dedicated to the<strong> goddess Ceres<\/strong>, <strong>deities <\/strong>of<strong> earth<\/strong> and of the <strong>fertility<\/strong>. As a form of <strong>devotion<\/strong>, were often brought as gifts to the goddess of the<strong> figurines<\/strong> by <strong>terracotta<\/strong>, made in nearby workshops. Precisely because from its origins the street was used as a place for handicraft manufacture, the old masters handed down this work from generation to generation without ever leaving the area, bequeathing to the city a <strong>heritage<\/strong> cultural and artistic unparalleled.<\/p>\n<p>San Gregorio is located along <strong>Spaccanapoli<\/strong>, and strolling down this straight stretch of the historic center you will be completely overwhelmed by a burst of <strong>energy<\/strong> chaotic and typically Neapolitan. During the Christmas season it is nice to stop and browse the various stores, which are also open the rest of the year but are active especially during the<strong> holidays<\/strong>, surrounded by lights, music and the magical atmosphere of the <strong>Christmas<\/strong>. Many artists, moreover, enjoy reproducing alternative figurines and not the classic religious figures, but rather cute miniatures of <strong>celebrities <\/strong>of <strong>policy<\/strong>, of the <strong>show <\/strong>and of the<strong> television<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"movery-vid-button-class\">Book the guided tour of the nativity scenes<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The nativity scene is an integral part of Naples' artistic and cultural heritage: discover its origins...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":15372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"locations":[167,208],"class_list":["post-17427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-passi-memoria","locations-campania","locations-napoli"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35288,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17427\/revisions\/35288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17427"},{"taxonomy":"locations","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations?post=17427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}