Naples, January 28, 2025
Press release
At the historic center of Naples, open to the public "The treasures of San Nicola a Pistaso"
The church of San Nicola a Pistaso is reopened after about eighty years; A jewel of Neapolitan Baroque architecture in via San Biagio dei Librai, since last March 2024 it has already been visited by tens of thousands of people; Residents and traders of the neighborhood who awaited its reopening with anxiety but also from the large tourist flows that for months, uninterruptedly, crowded the historic center of Naples.
The building, of a medieval system for civil use because it hosted one of the "minor" seats, that of the Pistasi, subsequently became a church dedicated to San Nicola, was reconstructed in 1660 and restored in 1755; In 1821 he was granted to the archconfraternity of San Michele Arcangelo in Pistasi, of the Ceto dei Facchini and the chair that holds it until the 1960s. The church was then abandoned and only for a few years, it was granted on loan of use to the "Miracle of the Bourbon" association which shares it, for the purpose of its enhancement, with the association "The seats of Naples Ets.
In the church the exhibition of the "treasures of San Nicola a Pistaso" or sacred furnishings and works of art recovered was finally open to the public. Among other objects of great historical and artistic value, such as a nineteenth -century "catafalco" and a precious stain of the "Quarantore", a part of the ancient books and documents of the Arciconfraternity can finally be consulted, in addition to the "uniforms" with the hoods and the planets of the priests who were spiritual guides here, almost miraculously escaped destruction or dispersion. These are documents, many dating back to the beginning of the 19th century, which today can provide the curious and scholars, numerous important elements to reconstruct a historical period through the daily life of the confreres who counted among others, the famous cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, legendary leader which in 1799 reconquered Naples after the short period Jacobin.
On Friday 31 January the exhibition of the "treasures" of the congregation, set up in the church sacristy, will be formally inaugurated with a special guided tour, from 6 pm, at the end of a suffrage mass open to all, for the souls of the purgatory of the confreres e of the relatives of what was one of the most numerous Neapolitan arciconfraternities and which will be celebrated at 5 pm, in the liturgical room of the church of San Nicola a Pistaso and will be officiated by p. Carmelo, parish priest of the nearby Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore who is competent territorially.
It is the second religious rite that in this building of worship, among the various assigned to different entities and associations it enjoys its natural vocation. It should be noted that popular devotion is already expressing itself with the visit for a prayer to an nineteenth -century scarabattola that holds the mortal remains, cracks and bones, of people who are still unknown. Are the famous "Capuzzelle" of confreres in the smell of holiness? Perhaps. Or are the ancient "viri" and nobles of the neighborhood that contributed between the 17th and 1700s to keep and protect this beautiful and partly mysterious chapel? A mystery that will resolve when the historical researchers of the two associations will end the consultation of the ancient registers of the Congregation.