Santa Chiara

In front of you rises the largest church of Neapolitan Gothic. King Robert of Anjou and his wife, Sancia of Majorca, founded it around 1310 as a double monastery: one for the Poor Clares and one for the Franciscans. It was consecrated in 1340 and became the burial place of the Angevin dynasty.

1A church for a wise king

Robert of Anjou, known as «the Wise», was a patron of Petrarch and Boccaccio, and he wanted a single, vast, light-filled nave here. His monumental tomb still stands at the far end of the church, behind the altar. Centuries later, the Bourbons also buried several members of their family here.

2The fire of 1943

On 4 August 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, an Allied bombing raid hit the church. The fire burned for days and destroyed the Baroque decoration that had been added in the 18th century. What you see is the result of the post-war rebuilding, which gave the building back its original Gothic look. It reopened in 1953.

For Neapolitans, the wound of Santa Chiara lives on in a song: «Munasterio 'e Santa Chiara», from 1945, tells of an emigrant's longing and his refusal to believe what he hears about his city.

Behind the church lies the famous cloister of the Poor Clares, decorated in the 18th century with benches and columns of painted majolica on the initiative of Domenico Antonio Vaccaro.

3What to look for

• The rose window and the portico of the facade, in an almost bare Gothic.
• The bell tower, whose base dates from the 14th century.
• The sobriety of the whole, so different from the Baroque around it.