Foreigners in Naples: German Travelers and the Church of Santa Maria dell’Anima

Susanne Kubersky-Piredda

In the early modern period, Naples, like Rome, was a hub for foreigners from all over Europe. Groups of travelers who shared common origins came together in confraternities and founded hospices and churches. The aim of this research project is a comparative study between the German church of Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome, which was open to believers from the entire territory of the Holy Roman Empire, and the church of the same name in Naples.

While the Roman confraternity was dominated by high-ranking officials of the Curia, its Neapolitan counterpart, founded in 1586, was mainly composed of craftsmen, soldiers, and merchants and was even open to representatives of Protestant networks. The small church of Santa Maria dell’Anima was originally located in the immediate vicinity of the harbor of Naples, where goods and travelers from all over the world converged. When the church was demolished in the course of the late 19th-century urban renewal of the historical center, the confraternity moved to a modern church in the Chiaia district, but only part of the original artistic furnishings was transferred to this location. Among the most important works that are still extant today is a series of altarpieces by the 18th-century Austrian painter Martin Knoller. The research project examines the networks and internal dynamics of the German community of Naples and explores how its artistic patronage served as an expression of collective identity.