Interior view

Cosimo Fanzago was the most important architect of Naples during the seventeenth century. Like Bernini, he was mainly a master builder and sculptor. His capacity for imaginative juxtaposition and development of architectural features was quite extraordinary. He understood how to combine late Mannerist and High Baroque elements as well as strictly classical and picturesque effects.

The plan of Santa Maria Egiziaca is a true Greek cross and departs altogether from the more traditional plans of Fanzago’s other churches. The plan of this, Fanzago’s finest church, so closed to that of Sant’Agnese in Rome, that a connection must be assumed. In addition, the design of the dome seems to be derived from Bernini’s Sant’Andrea al Quirinale and the convex portico from other Roman models.

In the interior, the extreme economy in detail and the emphasis laid on structural parts by painting them slightly off-white (polychromy is reserved for the high altar) help to produce an imposing effect of simplicity, which is entirely un-Roman.

View the section and ground plan of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone, Naples.