Spirito Santo dei Napoletani

The site held Sant'Aurea in strada Iulia with its convent. In 1572 it was given to the Confraternita dello Spirito Santo dei Napoletani, who levelled it and built the new church, dedicated in 1574 to a design by Domenico Fontana or possibly Ottaviano Mascherino. Carlo Fontana reworked it heavily in the early eighteenth century, and Antonio Cipolla rebuilt the façade, the cantoria and the apse in 1853. From 1934 to 1984 the church held the bodies of Francesco II of the Two Sicilies, Queen Maria Sofia and their daughter Maria Cristina Pia, moved in that year to Santa Chiara in Naples. Water damage closed it for thirty years; restoration began in 1980 under the rector Natalino Zagotto with the architect Giuseppe D'Emilio.