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Convent · Napoli (NA)

Convent of Suor Orsola Benincasa

  • Visit: about 30 min
Pictured: Napoli · Wolfgang Moroder · CC BY-SA 3.0 · resized and cropped

A vast monastic complex founded in 1581 on the hillside, with a panoramic cloister, the Sala degli Angeli and the church of the Immacolata.

The complex bears the name of its founder, Orsola Benincasa, who in 1581 chose this then isolated area for a lay retreat, soon turned into a monastery entrusted to the Theatine fathers. After the 19th-century suppressions a school for the education of women continued here, from which the present university institute was born. Even today high tuff walls enclose much of the old citadel.Inside, we especially like the old cloister, which opens onto splendid views of Naples. Not to be missed are the Sala degli Angeli, the former hermitage church with 17th-century decoration in engraved bardiglio marble and canvases by Andrea Vaccaro and Andrea Malinconico, and the church of the Immacolata, frescoed by Michele Foschini in 1739. The complex also holds an art collection and a museum on the history of the site.

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