SPACCANAPOLI, San Biagio Dei Librai

Continue walking along "Spaccanapoli", heading towards the nearby Piazza Nilo. Crossing this picturesque urban space, you'll see the Hellenistic statue depicting the Egyptian river that gives the square its name. And continuing with our archaeological theme, you can see what remains of a beautiful Greek-Roman column on the left side of the nearby Church of Santa Maria Assunta dei Pignatelli, which was built by the Pignatelli family in the 1400s as a chapel next to their palace.

In fact, you are in the part of the historic center where the residences of aristocratic families were concentrated, and many of the churches and chapels in this part of the city are linked to them. For example, in the 14th-century Church of Sant'Angelo a Nilo, you'll find the tombs of members of the Brancaccio family, but above all the monumental tomb of Cardinal Rinaldo Brancaccio from the first half of the 1400s. It's really interesting to learn that the pieces of this marble mausoleum were sculpted in Tuscany, then put on a ship in Pisa and reconstructed in Naples; pay special attention to the central bas-relief depicting The Assumption of the Virgin: it's by the great Donatello!

At this point "Spaccanapoli" becomes Via San Biagio dei Librai....