The Basilica of San Gennaro Fuori le Mura

The Basilica of San Gennaro Fuori le Mura (St Januarius Outside the Walls) is one of the many churches of Naples. It was built, as its name suggests, outside the city walls, far from the pagan world, precisely in the Rione Sanità district, within the grounds of the San Gennaro dei Poveri hospital.

by Alessia Giannino

The Basilica of San Gennaro Fuori le Mura is one of the many churches of Naples.

It was built, as its name suggests, outside the city walls, far from the pagan world, precisely in the Rione Sanità district, within the grounds of the San Gennaro dei Poveri hospital.

History and structure

The church is one of the finest examples of early Christian architecture, and its various classical elements do nothing to hide certain eastern influences. It was built in the 5th century, close to the catacombs of the Saint, and the original structure was probably the result of the merging of two ancient cemeteries, one of which also held the remains of San Gennaro, before they were moved elsewhere in the 9th century.

The building underwent several changes between the 9th and 15th centuries. In the 13th century, in fact, it was updated with some Baroque additions and, for a period, served first as a hospital for plague victims and later as a hospice for the poor.

The basilica is divided into three naves and features several different styles: inside, one area draws on late Gothic inspiration, the arches show Catalan architecture, and the apse is in early Christian style, supported by Corinthian columns.

A great many of the works of art once housed inside have been moved to the Civic Museum of Castel Nuovo, which is why the Basilica of San Gennaro Fuori le Mura appears so bare today. In the atrium, however, there are frescoes believed to have been created by Andrea Sabatini, a sixteenth-century painter active in Naples during the second and third decades of that century.

The church, and its frescoes with it, has recently been restored, and visitors can now admire depictions of several episodes from the life of San Gennaro, including the one relating to the legend that tells how the saint halted the lava flow from Vesuvius.

The basilica was reopened to the public on 21 December 2008.

Info
Address: Vico San Gennaro dei Poveri 12.
Phone: 0817443714