The church of San Marco Evangelista is a parish church in Giugliano in Campania, in the diocese of Aversa: its façade looks onto via Camposcino and its west side forms the backdrop of the square of the same name.
What to see
The façade, facing south, is marked by two pairs of fluted, tapering Ionic columns on a high base, carrying an entablature recessed in the central part, and ends in a triangular pediment. The portal, with solid-wood doors covered in iron sheet, is framed by two Composite columns on a piperno base and by a curved pediment, and is reached by a curved staircase of four steps; in the centre opens a rose window with cathedral glass on an iron frame. To the left stands the bell tower, on several storeys and crowned by a small dome, with two bronze bells, reachable from inside. The interior has a rectangular plan with a single nave, covered by a lunetted barrel vault rich in stucco, and ends in a square apse raised by one step; the walls have five arches on each side, with as many chapels. Those on the left are dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to Saint Joseph, to Our Lady of Sorrows and to Saint Roch, those on the right to the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii, to Saint Mark the Evangelist and to Saint Vincent Ferrer.
The church was founded in the 15th century in place of the old church of San Felice, outside the walls, in front of which in 1390 a bloody battle had been fought between the factions contending for the crown of the Kingdom of Naples: the damage to the building and the destruction of the nearby houses led to its abandonment and to the decision to build a new temple in the heart of the town, dedicated to Saints Mark and Felix and later known simply as San Marco. In the 18th century it underwent the main works of adaptation to the late Baroque; in 1844 the new marble altar was placed, still at the end of the presbytery, and in 1896 the church was enlarged and partly rebuilt under the direction of Francesco Saverio Di Girolamo and reconsecrated to Saint Mark the Evangelist, as a plaque to the right of the high altar records. After restorations during the 20th century, in 1995 piazza Camposcino was completed, demolishing decrepit buildings to make the side of the church and the façade of the Conservatorio della Buona Morte visible; further restoration campaigns ended in 1999 and 2009. In the presbytery, to the left of the high altar, a niche holds a statue of Saint Joan of Arc of 1919 and in a wooden case with a large glass front is kept the body of the martyr Saint Crescentius, dressed in military clothes; among the works the altarpiece of the high altar stands out, with the Virgin and Child and Saints Mark and Felix, attributed to Girolamo Imparato and datable to the very early 17th century. Near the entrance, on the right side, some probably 16th-century frescoes, with Saint John the Baptist, are preserved in the niche that housed a contemporary baptismal font, stolen. Adjacent to the church, on the east side, the chapel of the Congregation of Saint John the Evangelist is older than the church and has fine stuccoes; on the back wall of the apse is a canvas with the Madonna and Child and Saints John the Evangelist and Agnellus the Abbot, painted between 1624 and 1630 by Giovanni Antonio di Amato the Younger.
Visiting
The church is in the centre of Giugliano, between via Camposcino and the square of the same name; opening hours and service times should be checked with the parish, because the sources consulted do not give them.
Our editors' tip
Look at the west side from the square: it was made visible in 1995 by demolishing some decrepit buildings, and on that same occasion the façade of the Conservatorio della Buona Morte came into view.
