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The shrines in Naples

Rome, Genoa, Naples, Palermo and other Italian cities are still full of shrines that architectural structures of relatively small, with the practical function of house and protect the item is placed here.

The term derives from the Latin aedicula, diminutive of aedes ("temple") and then with the original meaning of "temple". Originally it was a miniature temple, which housed the statue or the depiction of a deity.

If you make a comparison, they have unique characteristics different from city to city. In Palermo

are located at the crossroads. Emerge from the alleys, the corners of the streets, the income of the historical buildings, pointing out the pagan soul of the city. In Rome are shown on street corners or inside buildings. In Genoa in 1846, talked about Charles Dickens, in "Pictures from Italy". Painted slate, marble or stucco simple, the altars facing the corners of the ancient medieval streets, in Genoa "alleyways."

Particularly interesting are the original and Naples in the first images appeared to protect houses and shops and, as in the Roman domus, before the image of a flame burning in a votive lamp. Walking through the old town and decumani often encountered small altars, tabernacles, colored boards, with figures of saints and Madonnas, and the poor expression of popular piety. Some are beautifully kept with flowers, lamps, others abandoned and blackened by time and the smoke from the garbage on fire. Each of these temples has its own story.

Among these is appropriate to mention the small chapel of Saint Anthony in Mergellina, where each years there is a procession that starts from the Sanctuary of Posillipo, reached the pier fishermen. The tabernacle of Porta San Gennaro with frescoes by Mattia Preti.

Among the oldest are still remembered by the two shrines dedicated to the neighbor across the patron saint of Naples, Via Ponte della Maddalena, designed by Ferdinando Sanfelice. Beautiful

are finally at the heart of the Crucified Orefici Piazzetta and the other on the ramps of San Giovanni Maggiore.