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Home > Italy Travel Guide > Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore

Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Introduction
Location
History

ATTRACTIONS

Interior
Archaeological Site

INFORMATION

Useful Information
Links

Introduction

The splendid Gothic church of San Lorenzo Maggiore stands on layers of antiquities. It is located at the precise geographic center of the historic center of the ancient Greco Roman city, at the intersection of via San Gregorio Armeno and via dei Tribunali. Beneath its cloister, which contains exposed remains from Roman times, a large excavation from the Greek and Roman eras of Naples constitutes with antiquities discovered below the nearby Duomo a considerable segment of the ancient city centre.
The name “San Lorenzo” may also refer to the new museum now opened on the premises, as well as to the Roman archaeological site beneath the church itself.
San Lorenzo actually is a church plus monastery. The new museum takes up the three floors above the courtyard and is given over to the entire history of the area that centers on San Lorenzo, beginning with classical archaeology and progressing to a chart display of historical shipping routes from Naples throughout Magna Grecia and the Roman Empire. The museum provides a detailed account of the local “city hall” that was demolished in order to put up the church in the 13th century and continues up past the Angevin period and into more recent history.

Location

Address: Piazza San Gaetano via Tribunali 316;
Transit: By train: Naples main railway station is in Piazza Garibaldi or Montesanto station of the Ferrovia Cumana.
By bus: “CS” Station Centers them Piazza Garibaldi - Via Dome, - “R2” Station Centers them Piazza Garibaldi Public square Nicholas Love (Run Umberto) - change with “E1”, “201” Station centers them Dante Public square change with E1 until via Dome.
By underground train : From Naples main railway station, leave the train at Piazza Montesanto or Piazza Cavour. From here take the new Metropolitan and leave the train at Museo, Piazza Dante or Piazza Carita.
By car: Leave the motorway at the Naples-Ferrovia exit, and continue in the direction of the railway station. Park the car and walk towards Porta Capuana. Turn into Via dei Tribunali. Alternatively, from Naples central station, take the metro or the bus.

History

The church's origins derive from the presence of the Franciscan order in Naples during the lifetime of St. Francis of Assisi, himself. The site of the present church was to compensate the order for the loss of their earlier church on the grounds where Charles I of Anjou decided to build his new fortress, the Maschio Angioino in the late 1200s.
Beneath San Lorenzo, about half of an original Roman market has been excavated. The site has been open since 1992, the result of 25 years of painstaking excavation. The market place is the only large-scale Greek-Roman site excavated in the downtown area.

This mainly 14th century Franciscan church (with an 18th century facade) was built during the reign of Robert the Wise of Anjou. The storyteller Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 75) is said to have based the character Fiammetta on Maria, the daughter of King Robert, whom he saw here on Easter Eve, 1334. For Naples, San Lorenzo Maggiore is a rare Gothic edifice. Its nave and apse ambulatory have a magnificent period simplicity. The church houses some interesting medieval tombs, most notably the Gothic tomb of Catherine of Austria, who died in 1323, by a pupil of Giovanni Pisano. Excavations in the monastic cloister, where the lyric poet and scholar Petrarch (1304 - 74) once stayed, have revealed the remains of a Roman basilica. Greek and medieval excavations are also under way.

Interior

San Lorenzo preserves the best and most extensive (still rather paltry) remains of the ancient Greek and Roman cities currently open to the public. The church foundations are actually the walls of Neapolis's basilican law courts. In the cloisters are excavated bits of the Roman city's treasury and marketplace. In the crypt are the rough remains of a Roman-era shop-lined street, a Greek temple, and a medieval building.
Every Christmas a life-size nativity scene is set up inside the church. The facade, strongly rebuilt by F. Sanfelice in 1742, preserves the original marble portal of the Middle-Ages. In the apse we can admire the imposing funerary monument of the Queen Catherine of Hungary a masterpiece of the very famous sculptor from Siena, Tino da Camaino. The church was restored in 1944.

Archaeological Site

The underground area under the church is an interesting archaeological site where some public buildings of the ancient Greek-Roman city of Neapolis are well kept like the “Macellum”, the food- market, which dates back to the IV century B.C., the Roman building of the “Erarium”, the treasury, various shops and the original pavement of some Roman streets.

How to get there: The archaeological site is in the heart of the historic centre of Naples. Walk along Via Duomo and turn into Via dei Tribunali. Walk 300 metres to Piazzetta San Gaetano and the excavation entrance.
Entrance Fee: Euro 4.00 (standard), Euro 2.00 (reduced and students).

Useful Information

Open: Mon-Sat: 9am-5pm; Sun: 9am-1:30pm.
Price: Admission to church free; scavi 4 Euro($5.20).
Telephone: 081-290580; 081-454948 for scavi (ruins).

Links

Trenitalia

Transport

Caremar

Transport

N.L.G Navigazione Libera del Golfo

Transport

Aeroporto Internazionale di Napoli

Transport

Siremar

Transport

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