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Pozzuoli
Saint Gennaro
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San
Gennaro Sanctuary is closed to Solfatara. Here in
305 A.D., where Gennaro, bishop of Benevento, suffered
martyrdom, a basilica was erected for his memento
between the end of the VI century and the beginning
of the VII century. Probably just the altar remained
of the whole church and maybe it was the stone on
which the Saint was beheaded. The eruption ot the
Solfatara, in 1198, caused its ruin and the building
was restored several times after many earthquakes,
especially those preceding the terrible eruption
which brought to the formation of the Monte Nuovo
(1538). The church was rebuilt in larger shapes
and after 1584, it got a famous place where worshipping
the Saint and martyr bishop; therefore it got a
destination of pilgrimage aboveall for people from
Naples. It got sanctuary and between 1701-1708 the
architect Ferdinando Sanfelice made the project
for enlarging it. In the night between 21st and
22nd February 1860A fire broken out and half-destroyed
it. It was restored in a short time and today the
facade is simple with a deep pronaos enriched with
two Tuscan columns; on the walls there are several
epigraphs commemorating the
most important events in the history of the monument.
The interior has a single nave covered by a groined
barrel vault, separated from the presbytery by a
huge triumphal arch. In the chapel on the right,
dedicated to Saint Gennaro, the early Christian
altar with the fenestella confessionis (small confessional),
brought here from the ancient basilica, and the
marble bust of the Saint, dating back to the first
years of the XIV century are preserved. Outside
the chapel, on the left side, the marble high relief
with Saint Gennaro's martyrdom by Lorenzo Vaccaro
is remarkable. |
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