ErN 124, entry Sept 2004
The ex-Military Hospital
&
ex-Convent of the Sisters of the
Most Holy Trinity
In a tour guide to
Naples published in 1700 (Napoli Città Nobilissima,
Antica e Fedelissima, Esposta a gli Occhi et alla
Mente de’ Curiosi, diviso in due Parti - ed. del
Parrino, Napoli, 1700), Domenico Antonio Parrino described the
premises —the gardens, orchards, fountains and an
artificial lake with gondolas to paddle about in— as
"the grandest, most beautiful and delightful" such place
in all of Europe. Interestingly, he was talking about a
convent.
The
convent of the Sisters
of the Most Holy Trinity was built between 1608
and 1617 at the wish of sister Victoria de Silva, a
noblewoman who had taken the vows. As sister "Eufrosina,"
she first took up residence in the convent of San Girolamo
in Naples and then started her own order and convent on
via Costantinopoli, both of which places are in the old historic center of the city. Pope
Clement VIII, who reigned from 1592-1605, gave her
permission to find larger premises for a completely new
convent. (Irrelevant/irreverent note: Clement's main claim
to infamy was letting Giordano Bruno
be burned at the stake in 1600.)
The new convent was built considerably away from the main part of the Naples of 1600, a site halfway up the Vomero hill, directly beneath the Monastery (now museum) of San Martino and the large vineyard and gardens of that institution. After the completion of the convent, work on an adjacent church was begun in 1618 under the direction of Cosimo Fanzago (1593—1678), the truly tireless architect among whose other works in Naples are the churches of the Ascension at Chiaia, Santa Teresa at Chiaia, and Santa Maria Egiziaca at Pizzofalcone.
For two centuries, the convent lived a grand existence, a pilgrimage site for royalty from all over Europe, including one such episode in 1630 when Maria of Austria enjoyed wine drawn from wells (!) specially built to make her day at the convent less spartan. The church was rebuilt in 1737 after an earthquake, and things continued until the important year of 1806, at which point the new ruler of Naples, Murat, carrying out the wishes of his brother-in-law, Napoleon, closed all monasteries and convents in the Kingdom of Naples.
In that year, the convent was converted into a military hospital and remained such even after the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1815. It continued to function as a hospital until relatively recently, and ex-ospedale militare is the only name that the premises are known by to most Neapolitans. The church was damaged in the late 1800s and subsequently converted into a pharmacy for the hospital.
The
location (below the present-day Corso Vittorio Emanuele
overlooking the Spanish Quarter
of Naples) and the fact that the site was essentially
abandoned a few decades ago out of concern for the
structural integrity of the buildings has meant that this
gigantic piece of real estate has remained obscure to most
Neapolitans. That may be changing; the grounds and convent
are in the process of being restored, and a part of the
grounds are already open as the Parco dei Quartieri Spagnoli, providing
a large terrace with a view over the city, a small
playground, a stand of trees, and a large outdoor area
with a cinema screen. What may become of the four–story
convent, itself, with its 28-arch sheltered portico
(photo, above) —a museum or a theater are two
possibilities that have been mentioned— is still very much
up in the air, but the addition of more outdoor space for
the residents of a cramped area such as the Spanish
Quarters, is already welcome news.
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