What to see · Torre del Greco

More places of interest

• Chiesa di Sant'Antonio di Padova

  The church of Sant'Antonio di Padova, with its Franciscan convent, is one of the youngest religious buildings in Torre del Greco: a particularly large conventual complex, which is also a parish seat.

  What to see

  The complex includes the monumental church, the convent with the area reserved for the friars, the cloister closed on three sides and open toward piazzale San Francesco, with the monument to the saint of Assisi, and the building of the former school, now used for parish activities. The church, in full Neo-Romanesque style, was designed by Camillo Guerra, probably starting from drawings by his father Alfonso, and is marked by imposing volumes; the porch, on three bays, rests on powerful piers clad in stone. The interior has three naves with a shallow transept on which stands the tall octagonal dome, clad in 1949 with 13,000 coloured tiles; in the side aisles spaces have been made much like the matronea of the old Romanesque basilicas, and the ceilings have powerful exposed wooden trusses. In the apse the monumental architecture in stucco and marble, made between 1950 and 1952, houses the statue of Saint Anthony by the sculptor Antonio Mennella; the false-mosaic decorations with lilies, angels and the Franciscan coat of arms are by the Roman painter Giuseppe Stefanilla. Among the works are a Christ crucified in agony attributed to Paolo De Matteis, of the early eighteenth century, given to the friars in 1897 by the marquis of Tertiveri, Carlo Gagliardi, a bronze statue of Saint Francis of 2000 by the Torre del Greco sculptor Vincenzo Giggiano Borriello, and two works linked to the goldsmiths' art of Torre del Greco: a pyx of 1949 and a monstrance of 1966.

  The convent grew from an old rural chapel dedicated to San Gennaro, given in 1897 to two friars by the couple Maria Vittozzi and Nicola Ametrano; the chapel was demolished and in its place work began on the convent, designed by the engineer Alfonso Guerra, Ametrano's nephew. Work on the new church began on 14 July 1925 and the building of the whole complex went ahead, by fits and starts, for more than fifty years, amid shortage of money, the Second World War and the turnover of friars. The site was damaged by the bombing of 1943 and the church was opened for worship in 1952; the earthquake of 23 November 1980 caused a great deal of damage, above all to the dome, and the church took on its present form with the works completed in 2000.

  Visiting

  The church and convent open onto piazzale San Francesco, in Torre del Greco. The church is a parish seat under the diocesan jurisdiction of Naples; the convent has belonged since 1943 to the Province of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of the Friars Minor of Naples and Caserta. Opening hours and times of services should be checked with the parish.

  Our editors' tip

  Look in the first bay of the right aisle for the altarpiece of the old chapel of San Gennaro, given to the friars in 1897 by the Ametrano couple: it shows the glory of the saint among cherubs and angels, dates from the mid-eighteenth century and is, with a few marble fragments of the old altar, the only trace of the rural chapel from which the convent grew.

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