Welcome to the site Napoliforme

Together with a villa and a tower, it is built on land that King Frederick of Aragon donated in 1499 to the great humanist Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530). The poet named the church after Santa Maria del Parto, in memory of his poem De Partu Virginis, and in 1529 he gave it to the Seviti fathers, with the proviso that they would finish building it and house his tomb in the church. On the façade, preceded by a staircase, two tondos are frescoed with the portraits of Ferrante d'Aragona and Jacopo Sannazaro. The lower level (1525) of the church is dedicated to the Madonna protector of parturients, in the upper level, which has remained incomplete, behind the high altar is the sepulchral monument of Jacopo Sannazaro (1536) inspired by pagan motifs typical of Renaissance art. On the first altar to the right is a painting, known as The Devil of Mergellina, which inspired one of the most famous Neapolitan legends: Leonardo da Pistoia's panel with St Michael the Archangel (1545-50) depicts the archangel Michael trampling the devil and piercing him with a lance, but the devil has the beautiful face of a young girl. It is the portrait of a famous noblewoman, Vittoria d'Avalos according to tradition, commissioned by Diomede Carafa, Bishop of Ariano, who wanted to celebrate his victory over the spells of the woman who did not hesitate to use magic arts in her attempts to seduce him. And the lady, invited to enter the church, is mirrored in the painting transformed into a demon and trampled by an angel. Since then, the saying "Beautiful as the devil of Mergellina" has described a bewitching beauty. The terrace of the church offers an ideal view of the small port of Mergellina.