Chiesa di Santa Maria Donnalbina

A very beautiful church. Luckily it was reopened after so many years

A beautiful church with excellent acoustics. There Pergolesi's remains are preserved. Too bad that in winter listening to a concert freezes!

The church of Santa Maria Donnalbina has been located in the street of the same name since the 11th century. Subsequently, the work for its reconstruction began in the 16th century, to end in the 17th century thanks to the intervention of Bartolomeo Picchiatti and, towards the end of the same century, by Arcangelo Guglielmelli. The interior, with a single nave and four chapels on each side, presents, next to the entrance, the Sepulcher by Giovanni Paisiello, an eighteenth-century musician, built in 1816 by Angelo Viva. The wooden coffered ceiling, made by Antonio Guidetti in 1701, is decorated with paintings by Nicola Malinconico: the Assumption, Sant’Agnello chases the Saracens from Naples and the Martyrdom of Sant’Agata (all from 1701). On the dome, on the other hand, there are frescoes by Francesco Solimena who, between 1692 and 1695, created Virtues, Saints and Christ shows San Benedetto the diffusion of his Order. The same artist is also the author of the paintings of the late seventeenth century placed on the altars of the transept: the Nativity, the Visitation, the Annunciation to the Shepherds, the Dream of Joseph and the Flight into Egypt. In the second chapel on the right, however, we find two works by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro who, in 1736, painted San Gennaro and a holy bishop. Finally, on the counter-façade, an organ from 1699 and a fresco by Nicola Malinconico depicting the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, while the main altar is made of committed marble.

A real hidden gem, the church of Donnalbina is a beautiful testimony of Baroque art in Naples between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The interior, with stucco decorations, has an altar made of committed marble and the wooden ceiling is decorated with paintings by Nicola Malinconico, who also created the fresco on the counter-façade. On the sides of the presbytery, the paintings by Francesco Solimena are remarkable, depicting the stories of the Virgin, which mark the development of 18th-century Neapolitan painting.

Here you can pay homage to the tomb of the great composer Giovanni Paisiello ((1740–1816) - This church houses the tomb of the great composer Giovanni Paisiello

Unfortunately the church is closed to the public, and can only be visited by reservation. We saw it with an association, but I think we can refer to the Don Orione center, which takes care of it with its volunteers. I loved the Solimena altarpieces - first of all, but it is all a wonder, from the ceiling to the entrance choir ... Even the cloistered grates have their charm, as well as the access alley, which has remained almost as Serao described it.

A beautiful place, the altar is truly beautiful with splendid paintings by Solimena, there is also an ancient well to visit

And from the Baroque period, the interior has stucco decorations, frescoes and canvases and a fully frescoed ceiling