Gesù Nuovo
A spiked diamond-stone facade from a 1470 nobleman's palazzo now fronts a Jesuit church — the geometry hits you before you reach the door.
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The Jesuits bought Roberto Sanseverino's confiscated palace in the 1580s for 45,000 ducats and kept its jutting rusticated ashlar skin. Inside, the dome pillars carry Lanfranco's four Evangelists, and Solimena's 1725 Expulsion of Heliodorus fills the back wall of the facade — one of the biggest baroque canvases in Naples. The square itself was laid out under Spanish viceroy Pedro Álvarez de Toledo in the early 16th century and still holds two other landmarks within a few steps.
What to look for
- The diamond-point rusticated stone exterior — it belonged to the original 1470 palace, not the church
- Solimena's Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple (1725) at the back of the entrance wall
- Giovanni Lanfranco's frescos of the four Evangelists on the pillars supporting the dome
The square also holds the Church of Santa Chiara and the Spire of the Immaculate Virgin; the Fountain of Monteoliveto is one block southeast.
Gesù Nuovo is one of 36 sights worth the detour in Naples, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Naples pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Naples
- HerculaneumWhere Pompeii draws the crowds, Herculaneum kept the wooden doors, carbonized food, and 300 skeletons still in the boat houses.
- Stadio Diego Armando MaradonaThe city officially renamed this 54,726-seat ground for Maradona on 4 December 2020 — locals still argue over what to call it.
- Teatro di San CarloThe world's oldest continuously running opera house opened here in 1737 — decades before Milan's La Scala existed.
- Naples National Archaeological MuseumA cavalry barracks in 1585, a university for 160 years, now the building where the largest single sculpture ever recovered from antiquity lives.
- Museo di CapodimonteA Bourbon king built this palazzo to hold art he inherited — then it got looted, evacuated, and reassembled across three centuries.
- Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino)Built in three years flat from 1279, this waterfront castle was the seat of kings of Naples, Aragon, and Spain for over five centuries.