Church of the Holy Spirit of the Neapolitans
Rome Italy
2016

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiesa_dello_Spirito_Santo_dei_Napoletani

https://storienapoli.it/2015/09/03/chiesa-spirito-santo-dei-napoletani/

Santo Spirito dei Napoletani is a Roman Catholic church on via Giulia, in the Regola rione of Rome. It was the national church of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and is now the regional church for Campania.

The façade was reconstructed in 1853, and is a rather uninspiring neo-Classical design by Cipolla. It looks suspiciously like he put together various elements from his scrapbook of motifs, and it was a pity that the Baroque façade by Fanzago was not kept.

There are two storeys, which since the recent restoration are rendered all in white. The first storey has four shallow and thin Corinthian pilasters supporting an entablature with a stepped architrave and blank frieze, and with posts above the capitals. These stand on stone pedestals which are themselves on a very high stone plinth, almost reaching halfway up the doorcase.

This doorcase is decoratively molded, and has a raised floating triangular pediment over a delicately carved panel featuring five fruity swags with festoons and winged putto's heads. The pediment is embellished with dentillation and egg-and-dart molding.

Above the pediment is a large fresco panels showing The Holy Spirit in Glory by Gagliardi, recalling a stucco work on the same theme that adorned the Baroque façade. Flanking the entrance is a pair of marble tablets bearing dedicatory epigraphs. The first storey has no windows, but a pair of large rosettes in tondi are in between the pilasters.

The second storey has a low attic plinth, supporting four Composite pilasters. These in turn support a second entablature and a crowning triangular pediment with modillions and a blank tympanum. In the centre is a large oculus or round window in a square frame with circular moldings and fleur-de-lys in the corners.

In between the pilasters are heraldic shields in relief of Pope Pius IX and King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies.