Arciconfraternita dei Pellegrini - Complesso Museale

In the same square where the old Ospedale dei Pellegrini stands (Via Portamedina, 41), we can find a Museal Complex managed by the Catholic archconfraternity and related with the hospital itself. The Pellegrini Museum is located in the picturesque Pignasecca neighborhood of Naples, just a few steps away from the Lower Decumanus, also known as “Spaccanapoli” (“Naples Splitter” in Italian), and it is surrounded by significant architectural, historical and artistic sites. It was definitively established in 2008 as a museum of regional interest (Museo di Interesse Regionale).

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"Spaccanapoli".

The museum complex includes two churches, as well as galleries and historical halls: the Santa Maria Mater Domini Church, built in the fifteenth century, which retains the original facade; and the Santissima Trinità Church, designed by Giovanni Antonio Medrano and Carlo Vanvitelli.

"Santa Maria Mater Domini" Church

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"Santissima Trinità" Church

Outside-view

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Inside-view

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The Corridoio delle Lapidi (Corridor of the Memorial tablets) connects the Trinity Church to the halls intended for use by the members of the Archconfraternity: “Salone del Mandato”, “Sale della Vestizione”, “Sala degli Albi d’Oro”, “Galleria dei Dipinti”. These halls are full of fine works of art commissioned by or donated to the Archconfraternity: paintings, bronze and marble statues, work in stucco (La Trinità by Angelo Viva) and wooden statues representing the Passion of Jesus Christ.
The expenses for the assistance were sustained by the donations of the brethren to which were added the questues' donators and the benefactors' generosities.

"Primicerio" room

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Corridor of Portraits

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Corridor of Memorial Tablets

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HISTORY

L'Augustissima Arciconfraternita ed Ospedali della SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini e Convalescenti was founded in Naples in 1578 by six handcraftsman - one of whom, Bernardo Giovino, was the promoter of the initiative - to assist the many pilgrims who during their long journeys stopped in the city.
After the two structures were combined from the confraternity of St. Filippo Neri on the occasion of the Holy Year 1550, on request of Pope Paul III, who was worried by the considerable influx of pilgrims in the city of Rome, the archconfraternity of Naples assumed its name and statute.1

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A memorial tablet can be seen in the Corridoio delle Lapidi (Corridor of the Memorial Tablets).
The Italian inscription reads as follows:

NELLA RICORRENZA DEL QUARTO CENTENARIO / DELLA MORTE DELL'AMABILE / SAN FILIPPO NERI / L'AUGUSTISSIMA ARCICONFRATERNITA DELLA SS. TRINITA' / DEI PELLEGRINI E CONVALESCENTI / A MEMORIA DEI RITI CELEBRATIVI SVOLTISI IL / 18 E 19 NOVEMBRE 1995 / PONE QUESTA LAPIDE / E RINNOVA / CON IMMUTATO FERVORE / IL SUO IMPEGNO NELLE OPERE DI CARITA' ED UMANA / SOLIDARIETA' DI CUI LA RESE DEPOSITARIA IL / SUO SANTO ISPIRATORE.

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The first “Hospital–house” was opened in 1579 at the convent of "S. Arcangelo" in Baiano. Shortly thereafter, given the constant increase in the number of pilgrims seeking asylum, it moved to larger premises located near St. Pietro ad Aram. Finally, since 1591 the hospital had a permanent seat in the building that had been built in Via Portamedina. The Archconfratenity’s assistance soon extended to the convalescents at the end of the 1700s. Its work focused on the care of the poor and the sick, who gradually took the place of the pilgrims in the hospital, whose number was decreasing for a different lifestyle… the sanitary hospital, substitute of the pilgrims’one, aimed to rescue the wounded (1815): while the clinics were set up for medical treatment, consultations and a dispensary of medicines. The convalescent hospital was extended to the chronically ill.2
During World War II, a bombing seriously damaged the hospital. In order not to interrupt the activity, the archconfraternity decided to continue the assistance to the wounded and the sick, temporarily transforming the church into a hospital ward.
In 1967, the Archconfraternity created a second hospital on the hill of "Capodichino" named “Nuovo Pellegrini” (nowadays S.Giovanni Bosco).

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THE LOCAL AREA

"Enclosed in the maze of ancient roads, in a secluded court, almost hidden from the sight of the swarming crowd that daily animates the markets of Pignasecca, stands the "Santissima Trinità" church. In the austere architecture of this Temple - erected to "God One and Trine" - and in the annexed "Ospedale dei Pellegrini" a centuries-old memory of symbols, dense and labyrinthine as in few other places in the city, is settled ".3

The street currently known as Porta Medina (Medina Gate) or “Station of the Cumana Railway” yet today keeps the traces of important events of the past and still provides a clue to the urban development of the city. However, the traces of the past are barely visible under its new, modern appearance.
The "Porta" (Gate) is located in the lower Decumanus of the Greek Naples, near the walls built by Federico II of Naples in the western part of the city, and was designed to make communications easier with the interland of Naples.
The Gate was commissioned by the viceroy Ramiro Guzman to Cosimo Fanzano, Duke of Medina. Via Portamedina originated as the main street of the "Spirito Santo" neighborhood, located beyond the ancient "Porta Reale" (Royal Gate).
The initial features of the street can be reconstructed thanks to the visible traces of the past, and also by means of a map drawn by Lafrery in 1566, which clearly shows the borders separating the place from former "S. Chiara" church and the "Quartieri Spagnoli" (Spanish Neighborhoods).
After being granted the right to build outside the royal walls, the Pignatelli family built houses – as well as the hospital and the church – and enlarged the previous borders of the city. Despite the fact that the first structure erected by Don Fabrizio has disappeared, the hospital is still there after more than one hundred and fifty years.

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Topographic map of Naples sketched by Schiavoni (1877). 4

In the red circles the right position of the Hospital and the immediately beside Museal Complex.

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Topographic map of Naples sketched by G. Carafa, duke of Noja (1775). 5

Different view of the square where the Hospital and the Museal Complex stand.

HISTORICAL ARCHIVAL

The Historical Archive (Archivio Storico) was declared in 1988 “Archive of great historical importance”.
More than 1200 volumes or folders (public and private documents) embrace the period of five centuries since the founding of the Archconfraternity today.
In addition to the royal and ecclesiastical acts, bulls, and the papal brief, they retain many private documents, patents and instruments. The registration of the alms made to the company during the years 1600 and 1625 witnessed the great work of the Archconfraternity and its growing popularity.
The documentation about the Hospital is very important: the series (37 volumes) of the books "Concerning the incoming individuals, sorties, and deaths in the hospital" and the "Surgical Relations" where the first aid and acceptance operations are noted. In 1867 a report - in English - about cholera and yellow fever epidemics in the US Army, edited by the government office: a detailed treatise on the symptoms and treatment of prophylaxis of infectious diseases.6

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Gregorio XIII's bull, called ''Graziosa'' (1574). 7

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The Roll of Honor (Albo d'Oro) recently signed by Pope Francesco.

  • Main text and photos by Chiara Goretti moc.liamg|79itterogaraihc#| and Chiara Palagiano ti.oiligriv|onaigalap.araihc#|, old planimetry maps and historical archival pages courtesy of Arciconfraternita dei Pellegrini di Napoli (January 2018)

Related items


Bibliography

  • G. Alisio, U. Carughi, A. Miccioli, L'Arciconfraternita della SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini in Napoli, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli 1976, pp. 36-64
  • A. D'Orsi, Le sculture della passione, Guida Editore, Napoli 2012, pp. 67-72
  • B. Gravagnuolo, Un percorso tra storia e arte, Rolando Editore, Napoli 2006, p. 46

Sitography


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