Frescoes of the Rediscovered Chapel

The chapel that re-emerged from the wall.

In the broader context of the works for the UNESCO Project in the Historic Centre of Naples, in July 2023, a tiny chapel was discovered behind a door that had been closed two centuries ago to separate the Archives from the church of Santi Severino e Sossio.

The secret chapel was found along the route that the monks once followed from the monastery – later transformed into an archive – to reach the church of Santi Severino e Sossio. It is one of the many passages between the monastic area and the church that were closed when it was decided to put the Neapolitan monastery to other uses.

Once the door was opened, the remains of a small staircase emerged from the room. The experts noticed small cracks compatible with a previous opening, and so decided to create a tiny gap through which to insert a camera. What the video footage revealed was incredible: the images showed a small space, entirely frescoed.

The discovery was immediately followed by operations to recover the spaces under the close supervision of the Soprintendenza. The still-vivid colours of the little chapel show at the centre a scene of the Deposition of Christ, while on the side walls are the images of two bishop saints, most probably Saints Severino and Sossio, to whom the complex is dedicated.

The news of this chapel was received with great enthusiasm by the Soprintendenza and by the director of the State Archives. Faced with this discovery, Friends of Naples did not hold back and, together with Dafne Restauri, carried out the restoration works on the frescoes and on the entrance door to the Chapel, and had the privilege of conducting the research and analyses needed to explore the iconographic aspects in depth and to date the frescoes precisely.