Napoli - San Francesco di Paola

Napoli is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city in Italy. Its metropolitan area has a population of more than 3 million.

Founded by Greek settlers before 900 BC, Napoli was an important part of Magna Graecia and played a major role in the merging of Greek and Roman society.

Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire Napoli was shortly ruled by the Ostrogoths. Byzantine troops captured the city in 536m but after the Byzantine exarchate, Ravenna fell a Duchy of Naples was created. Over centuries the Duchy´s relations to Rome or Byzanz were hard-fought. In 836 Napoli could repel a siege of Lombard troops with the help of the Saracens, which did not prevent Muhammad I Abu 'l-Abbas in the 850s loot Napoli. In the 11th century, the Duchy hired Norman mercenaries, and in about 1140 it came under Norman control under Roger II, then King of Sicily.

In 1228 Emperor Frederick II founded the first university in Europe here, making Napoli the intellectual center of the kingdom. The conflict between the House of Hohenstaufen and the Papacy led in 1266 to Pope Innocent IV crowning the Angevin duke Charles I King of Sicily. Charles officially moved the capital from Palermo to Napoli.

In 1282 after the "Sicilian Vespers", a successful rebellion on the island of Sicily against the rule of King Charles I, the Kingdom of Sicily was divided into two. The Angevin Kingdom of Naples included the southern part of the Italian peninsula, while the island of Sicily became the Aragonese Kingdom of Sicily.

By the 17th century, Naples had become Europe's second-largest city – second only to Paris – with around 250000 inhabitants.

San Francesco di Paola is located on Piazza del Plebiscito opposite the Palazzo Reale.

The entire square, as well as the large buildings and colonnades on its west side, were planned at the beginning of the 19th century by the then King of Naples, Joachim Murat, a brother-in-law of Napoleon. In order to make space for the new buildings, he first had the old monastery knocked down. After Napoleon was exiled and Joachim Murat was deposed, the Bourbons again ascended the throne of Napoli. King Ferdinand I launched a competition in 1817 and dedicated the planned church to Saint Francis of Paola. The church was finally built and consecrated in 1836.

The shape of the church is reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome.