The “Pietà de’ Turchini” Centre for Early Music can boast an exceptional location: the Church of Santa Caterina da Siena. The building houses the works of important artists, an anthology of great historical significance of the culture of the second half of the 18th century. Its history begins in the seventies of the 16th century, when it housed the hospital of Santa Maria della Vittoria erected by the will of Don Giovanni d'Austria, winner of the famous battle of Lepanto, to which the hospital of San Giacomo was later annexed. In 1613 the complex was sold by the governors to the Dominican Feliciano Zuppardo, who in 1615 placed some tertiary of his order there. Thus, it was the following year, that by Pope Paul V, the cloistered convent was born. The building underwent profound changes and, today, of the 17th century church only the splendid holy-water stoups (recently restored) at the ends of the aisle  with Santa Caterina and San Domenico, attributable to the school of Cosimo Fanzago, remain. The first restoration work dates back to 1760, the year in which Ignazio Chiaiese remade the floor in cotto tile and majolica. But it was only in 1766 that the church and the monastery were radically renovated by Mario Gioffredo, who rebuilt the pronaos that serves as a perspective view to the church, frescoed in the vault by Vincenzo Diano with the representation of the Glorification of the Church (1784). Indoors, the architect Gioffredo collaborated with the painter Fedele Fischetti, who painted the Glory of St.  Catherine on the vault, The Eternal and the Evangelists in the gallery, and in the lunettes on the altars Cardinal and Theological Virtues. In the main altar, designed by Gioffredo himself, as the art historian Anthony Blunt points out, one can read the artist's classical tendencies that can be seen throughout the church. The building has a single aisle with four chapels on each side and a semicircular apse. Coherent with the expression of this academic taste is also the choice of painters, to whom the paintings on canvas that decorate the altars are attributed. Francesco De Mura, author of Sant'Agostino (first chapel on the right) and of the Madonna del Rosario (second chapel on the left), is here in a moment of extraordinary pictorial happiness, underlined by the use of chromatic materials with increasingly brighter and precious tones, due also to the contact with painters such as Corrado Giaquinto, Luca Giordano and Paolo De Matteis. Giacinto Diana is painted the Calvario (second chapel on the right), dated 1782. The work belongs to an academic phase, in which the artist uses a warm and golden chromatic material, which fades into delicate pastel shades, embellished with touches of clear and vibrant light in an "arcadia demuriana"scenario. In addition to the frescoes, Fedele Fischetti also painted the canvases with the Circumcision (third chapel on the right), the Virgin, the Magdalene and St. Catherine holding a cloth with St. Domenico Soriano and Noli me tangere (first chapel on the left). In these works of his early maturity, which take up iconographic models and formal solutions by Pompeo Batoni, the artist demonstrates the attempt to participate in the new applications of mid-century classicism. The canvas with the Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine on the high altar is by Andrea Malinconico. No less important than the great pictorial works are the testimonies of Neapolitan craftsmanship, that is to say of those decorative arts, of which there are traces in the whole Europe. Of particular value are the sumptuous marbles and the precious wooden inlays.

An ancient little treasure chest of the sacred, nestled in the heart of Naples’ elegant Chiaia district, just a few steps from the sea—long closed to most, now ready to reopen its doors and come alive once again through art and culture. This is the Church of San Rocco a Chiaia, dating back to the 16th century and already marked on the 18th-century map of the Duke of Noja. Hidden for centuries amid later layers of architecture, it stands opposite the southern axis of the Villa Comunale.

Intertwining its Baroque roots with cutting-edge creativity, production, and training, the Centro di Musica Antica – Fondazione Pietà de’ Turchini has developed a program designed to host youth ensembles in creative residency: a polyphonic choir, a children’s choir, and emerging talents in music and the arts. Their projects and performances are shared with the city’s public and supported in their circulation across Italy and abroad.

Thus, new productions conceived within San Rocco are launched from the shores of Parthenope towards other European creative centers in network. The goal is to accompany audiences through the emotion of conceiving a concert or music theatre project, and through its often difficult, sometimes painful, yet deeply rewarding realization. The project seeks to engage and guide the public in discovering the artistic value of a concert—not only in its final form but also in the process that precedes it: artistic training, the synergy of diverse personalities, the building of materials, and the technical challenges that together form its true heritage.

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In 2021, the Foundation acquired a new space in the Municipality of Melizzano—in the province of Benevento, halfway between Naples and Caserta—nestled in an area of exceptional natural beauty. The Municipality of Melizzano lies within the Taburno-Camposauro Regional Park, which extends over 12,370 hectares in the province of Benevento, encompassing 14 other municipalities. The park offers remarkable natural and scenic resources in a context of great historical, cultural, and local tradition.

Re.Crea. is a Creative Residency open to artists in the performing arts, students, researchers, cultural operators, and social innovators seeking a place to experiment, develop ideas and projects in close contact with nature. It offers an opportunity for artistic creation and research, for sharing best practices, fostering dialogue among different systems, and activating new social and cultural synergies—both local and international. Its goal is to build skills, increase attractiveness, and encourage the active participation of all those involved.

The space has undergone a restoration and functional redevelopment project, supported by the Compagnia di San Paolo, to host the training activities of the Pietà de’ Turchini Academy. It has been adapted to accommodate residencies, training, production, and performance, with multipurpose rooms suitable for workshops, seminars, rehearsals, performances, and public presentations. It also offers hospitality for artists, with a guesthouse including rooms with private bathrooms (9 beds in total), a kitchen, and shared spaces. The rooms and facilities are furnished with quality furniture and fittings given a second life, in line with principles of reuse and recycling.

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The Banco di Napoli Palace, designed by Marcello Piacentini, was inaugurated on 9 May 1940 as the modern headquarters of the ancient financial institution. The building stands on part of the site once occupied by the great San Giacomo complex, where, from the 1520s, construction began on a church and hospital dedicated to Spain’s patron saint. This initiative, promoted by Viceroy Pedro de Toledo, established a religious and charitable institution for Spaniards residing in Naples. Since 1597, the site also housed the ancient Banco di San Giacomo e Vittoria, which during the French decade was merged into the Banco delle Due Sicilie and, after Italian unification, into the Banco di Napoli—leaving a permanent and distinctive mark on the area. In the 19th century, the site was home to financial offices and later to the Bourbon State Ministries, designed by Stefano Gasse. The partial demolition of this imposing structure provided the opportunity, in the 1930s, to create a grand modern headquarters for the Neapolitan bank, entrusted to Piacentini, the leading figure of Italian architectural culture of the period. By late 1938, Piacentini undertook the project, overseeing the design of the exterior and the architectural layout, as well as the details of the interior halls, decorations, cladding, and lighting fixtures (produced by Fontana Arte), along with the furnishings. The main façade reflects the monumental character typical of Piacentini’s public buildings, with a modernist reworking of classical and Michelangelesque elements: the giant order, the massive base with large windows that seem to emerge from the stone, and the central block of five arches, where the alternation of arcuated and trabeated systems recalls the formal solutions of great Renaissance palaces. Also traditional is the tripartite division of the façade: the severe base in Billiemi stone, the intermediate travertine band, and the attic crowning. The façade is set back from the street alignment of Via Toledo, enhancing its monumental impact. By contrast, the austerity of the exterior is softened in the internal courtyards, where brickwork evokes contemporary German and American experiments. A hallmark of the project is the meticulous selection of materials. The grey Billiemi stone and travertine give solemnity to the façade; the red granite of the vestibule columns anticipates the Issorie green marble floor and the Vallestrona pink marble walls of the great hypostyle banking hall—the largest of its kind built at the time. The monumental staircase, with stained-glass windows by Luigi Parisio, leads to the second floor, where the Ethiopian marble of the Assembly Hall is illuminated by warm light filtering through alabaster windowpanes. This large double-height space, with its coffered ceiling and flat lunettes, recalls Roman basilical structures. Every detail of the building was carefully designed by Piacentini: from the marble cladding of floors and walls to the double wooden doors, lamps and chandeliers, tiles in the less representative spaces, and even the use of concrete and glass blocks in the garage. More recently, in 1986, architect Nicola Pagliara enriched the Via Toledo façade with refined design elements—such as basins, planters, and benches—that softened the austerity of Piacentini’s original composition.

Palazzo Donn’Anna was designed and built in 1642 by the architect Cosimo Fanzago at the request of Anna Carafa, Princess of Stigliano and wife of the Viceroy Ramiro Núñez de Guzmán, Duke of Medina de las Torres. Its construction remained unfinished due to the Viceroy’s return to Spain and the subsequent death of Anna Carafa.

The palace rises directly from the sea and embodies the need to coexist with it. Fanzago conceived a design inspired by the architectural principles of 16th-century Venice, a city that has always lived in close dialogue with water.

Of particular architectural interest is the Theatre, now home to the Foundation, separated from the sea by three imposing arches. Much of the space was carved directly into the tuff rock and extends as a gallery over the water, offering an extraordinary view of the Gulf of Naples and Mount Vesuvius.

The Theatre was purchased by De Felice in 1958, when it still lay in a state of total abandonment: the three large seaside arches had no windows, leaving it exposed to wind, rain, and storms; water seepage blackened the vault, damaging stuccoes and plaster. Thanks to a demanding and meticulous restoration project and the skilled work of architect De Felice, the Theatre regained its Baroque splendor after three centuries. Before becoming the headquarters of the Foundation, it served for many years as De Felice’s studio, where numerous architects and designers worked, and where the architect conceived and carried out many of his projects.

Palazzo Donn’Anna, though unfinished, has over the centuries acquired the spectacular allure of an ancient ruin, becoming a true icon of Naples. Perched on the Posillipo coastline, it is beloved by Neapolitans also for the aura of legends that have always surrounded it.

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  The Confraternity of the Servants of Mary was founded in 1717 by the Cathedral parish priest, Canon Francesco Anton Ruocco—later Bishop of Capri—who wished to bring together the boys of the city of Sorrento into a pious institution under the title Sons or Slaves of Mary. Initially, the institution, affectionately called la Congrazionella by the people of Sorrento, had no permanent home and was hosted in various churches until 1722, when Archbishop Filippo Anastasio donated to the Congregation the Chapel of St. Barnabas, behind the Cathedral. The chapel had belonged to the Mastrogiudice family, Marquises of San Mango, who, having no direct heirs, granted it for this purpose. In January 1723, Pope Innocent XIII, through his Papal Bull, formally recognized the Congregation of the Sons or Servants of Mary, under the title of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven, granting it numerous indulgences. However, the small chapel soon proved too small to contain the large number of affiliates who took part in all religious practices. Canon Giuseppe Corbo, Prefect of the Confraternity, decided to expand it by purchasing the surrounding properties and gardens, thanks to the contribution of Cardinal Antonino Sersale of Naples—a native of Sorrento and one of the first Sons of Mary. The church was enriched with a splendid polychrome marble altar, bearing on its sides the Sersale family coat of arms, crafted by the renowned Neapolitan marble worker Antonio Troccoli, and with a magnificent terracotta-tiled floor, decorated with maiolica tiles depicting fanciful vases of flowers and fruit among scrolls and cartouches, the work of the famous artist Ignazio Chiaiese. The church was solemnly blessed on 14 August 1772. In 1774, the temple was further adorned with the great altarpiece of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, painted by the Sorrentine artist Carlo Amalfi, and with a grand six-register organ by the Neapolitan master Nicola Mancini. Later, in 1786, Carlo Amalfi completed ten more canvases: six depicting the key moments of the Virgin Mary’s life, placed along the church walls; and four others representing the Guardian Angel and the three Archangels, placed on either side of the high altar. The Servants of Mary have always been greatly credited for safeguarding, caring for, and enriching the historical, artistic, and religious heritage of the city of Sorrento. Today, the Confraternity, in keeping with the times yet faithful to its ancient statutes, continues to provide sound religious formation while also embracing new forms of apostolate aimed at supporting those in need. It has also launched new social and cultural initiatives, carried out with ever greater commitment and spirit of service. www.servidimaria.it