Wooden choir

The wooden choir against the termites.

In the tribune behind the altar of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Pizzofalcone stands a wooden choir on two tiers of the greatest historical and documentary value, with carved and incised decorative elements, which can be dated back to the building of the church. Behind the seats of the stalls, panels with carved frames alternate and, at the sides, there are fluted columns with bases carved with racemes and Corinthian capitals. In the upper part of the seating, two volutes flank scenes with figures and heraldic symbols, while at the sides the seat dividers open with volutes ending in cherubs and a ribbon cornice carved with phytomorphic elements.

The rarity of these ancient furnishings leads us to think of a workshop of carvers specialising in wooden sculpture who, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, may have worked around a design by the Theatine architect Francesco Grimaldi to make this tribune unique and distinctive.

For several years the wooden choir has been under attack from termites. The presence of these infesting insects has caused extensive damage, invisible to the naked eye, in the wooden structures, attacking the work from within.

Friends of Naples and the firm DAFNE Restauri intervened as a matter of the utmost urgency to halt the deterioration of the work, secure it and reinforce its structure. This was only the first step, but much work is still needed to restore and reinstate the damaged decorative elements.