San Pietro a Majella is a church in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. The term may also refer to the adjacent Naples music conservatory

Music Conservatories of Naples

The Music Conservatory of Naples is a music institution in Naples, southern Italy. It is currently located in the complex of San Pietro a Majella.-San Pietro a Majella:...

, which occupies the premises of the monastery that used to form a single complex with the church.

The church stands at the western end of Via dei Tribunali

Via dei Tribunali (Naples)

Via dei Tribunali is a street in the old historic center of Naples, Italy.It was the main decumanus — that is, the main east-west street—of the ancient Greek and then Roman city of Neapolis, paralleled to the south by the lower decumanus and to the north by the upper decumanus...

, one of the three parallel streets that define the grid of the historic center of Naples; the church is considered one of the most significant examples of Angevin

Capetian House of Anjou

The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct House of Capet. Founded by Charles I of Sicily, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century...

 architecture in Naples and was built at the wishes of Giovanni Pippino da Barletta, one of the knights of Charles II of Anjou and the one responsible for destroying the last Saracen

Saracen

Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

 colony on the southern peninsula, in Lucera

Lucera

Lucera is a town and comune in the Province of Foggia, in the Apulia region of southern Italy.-Ancient era and early Middle Ages :Lucera is an ancient city founded in Daunia, the centre of Dauni territory . Archeological excavations show the presence of a bronze age village inside the city boundaries...

.

San Pietro a Majella was built in the early 14th century and was named for and dedicated to Pietro Angeleri da Morone, a hermit monk from Maiella (near Sulmona

Sulmona

thumb|150px|Celestine V's hermitage and the remains of the Shrine of Hercules Curinus.thumb|150px|Palazzo SS. Annunziata and Museo Civicothumb|150px|Church of SS...

) who became Pope Celestine V

Pope Celestine V

Pope Saint Celestine V, born Pietro Angelerio , also known as Pietro da Morrone was elected pope in the year 1294, by the papal election of 1292–1294, the last non-conclave in the history of the Roman Catholic Church...

 in 1294. He was the founder of the Celestine monastic order, which occupied the church until 1799, when monasteries were suppressed by the Neapolitan Republic. After the restoration of the monarchy, the monastery was reopened, but in 1826 was converted to house the music conservatory, which function it has served ever since. The church underwent restoration in the 1930s and remains an open and active house of worship.

As was the case with much Angevin architecture in Naples, San Pietro a Majella underwent a Baroque make-over by the Spanish in the 17th century, but 20th-century restoration attempted to "undo" that and to restore the building to its original Gothic appearance. Much of the art work within the church is dedicated to various phases in the life of the monk Pietro and then Pope Celestine V.

Sources

• De Lellis, De Minieri Riccio, Brevi notizie dell'archivio angioino, Naples 1872.
• A. Venditti, Urbanistica e architettura angioina, in Storia di Napoli, Naples 1969.
• O. Morisani, L'arte di Napoli nell'età angioina, in Storia di Napoli, Naples 1969.
• Celano - Chiarini, Notizie del bello dell'antico e del curioso, Naples 1972.