Santa Maria La Nova
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Santa Maria la Nova is a church in Naples, southern Italy. It is located on the site given to the Franciscan order in 1279 when Charles of Anjou decided to build his Castel Nuovo (new castle), or Maschio Angioino, on the grounds of the order's original monastery, whence the name Nova ("new").
The "new" church was built in the late 1200s. The original Angevin building was removed in 1596 and a new structure was planned and built by Giovan Cola di Franco, with a Renaissance façade. The main altar is from 1633 and was designed by Cosimo Fanzago. The church is located at the beginning of a side street directly across from the from the east side of the main post office.
The church contains a famous work of art: a 46-panel gilded fresco on the ceiling from 1600; it is the collective work of a number of artists, including Luca Giordano. The church is a part of a larger monastic complex, much of which now houses municipal office space.
