Via Medina and Via Monteoliveto, Naples

In a little square just east of the Post and Telegraph Office stands the church of Santa Maria la Nova (16th century; beautiful interior), with two Renaissance cloisters of the monastery to which it belonged.

The line of Via Medina is continued northwest by Via Monteoliveto. At the end of this street is the fine Palazzo Gravina (1513-49), which houses the Academy of Architecture. The street runs into the Piazza Monteoliveto, with the church of Monteoliveto or Sant'Anna dei Lombardi, begun in 1411 and later continued in Early Renaissance style; it contains eight good terracottas (15th-16th century) and beautiful 16th century choir-stalls.

From the Piazza Monteoliveto the Calata Trinità Maggiore leads to the Piazza Gesù Nuovo, with a gilded statue of the Virgin (1748). On the north side of the square is the Jesuit church of Gesù Nuovo (1584).

The church of Santa Chiara (founded 1310) contains the tomb (1343-45) of Robert the Wise (1309-43) and other fine Gothic tombs belonging to members of the house of Anjou. The Nuns' Choir, behind the high altar, was used by the Poor Clares until 1925. In the adjoining Franciscan monastery is a beautiful cloister (Chiostro delle Clarisse) decorated with Capodimonte majolica.