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Sant'Antonio a Posillipo commands one of the most striking panoramas in the city. The church sits on the Posillipo height above Mergellina facing southeast with a view of the Chiaia section of town the bay itself, the isle of Capri, and the Sorrentine peninsula. Orirignally a monastery, the church was founded in 1642 by brother Paolo Anzalone of the Third Regular Order of St. Francis. The order was surpressed in Naples under the French in 1809; in 1835 the Dominican order took over the premises; they, too, were surpressed by the new national government in the 1860s, then restored in 1883.

The church was remodelled in the 1950s and, except for the onion-dome belfry held over from the 1750s, does not look at all like the structure seen in 18th-century depictions of the area. There remain within the building works of art from the 18th-century, but even as early as 1845, one source complained about the unremarkable architecture of the place. Yet, because of its location, the house of worship was (and remains) a favorite target for a "short pilgrimage", if you will--i.e., you can hike up to it from the church of the Madonna of Piedigrotta at Mergellina, below, along rampe Sant'Antonio, the steepest and crookedest road in Naples. At the end, if you can trick yourself into confusing exertion with devotion, you may feel that you have done something worth being blessed for.

in collaborazione con la dott.ssa Liliana Castello.