entry
Oct 2004
Pio Monte della Misericordia: Church and Art Gallery
In 1601, driven by the
charitable aspirations of the Counter
Reformation, seven Neapolitan gentlemen founded a
quasi-secular organization dedicated to taking care of
the needy in Naples. Their original idea was to raise
enough money to support a number of beds (places) in the
Hospice for the Incurable.
An early site for the organization was built almost
immediately, but by mid-century the organization
expanded into the premises that one sees today (photo),
on via Tribunale, one block from a side entrance of the
Naples Cathedral.
The building is the
work of architect Francesco
Antonio Picchiatti and was completed in 1670. It
is directly across the street from the small square,
Piazza Sisto Riario Sforza, in the center of which
stands the oldest of the three well-known "spires of
Naples", the 24-meter high Spire of San Gennaro, erected
in 1636 and the work of Cosimo Fanzago. (The other two
spires are at Piazza San
Domenico Maggiore and Piazza
del Gesù Nuovo.)
The two-story
building rests on a portico of five arches and contains an
art gallery on the first floor. The building was designed
not to look like a church, though it does contain one on
the premises. That interior church, too, is the work of
Picchiatti and is built to an octagonal plan with seven
altars. It is best known today for the presence of Caravaggio's spectacular and
complicated painting, The
Seven Acts of Mercy, one of the most influential
works of art in the 17th century in Naples.
update Sept. 2014 - There is currently a dispute
in Naples over the possible loan of The Seven Acts of
Mercy.
See this link.
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