Santa Maria del Parto a Mergellina, Naples

Church of Holy Mary of Childbirth in Mergellina
Chiesa di Santa Maria del Parto a Mergellina
The façade of Santa Maria del Parto a Mergellina.
Coordinates: 40°49′30″N 14°13′13″E / 40.824912°N 14.220245°E / 40.824912; 14.220245
Location	Chiaia Naples Province of Naples, Campania
Country	Italy
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Architecture
Status	Active
Architectural type	Church
Style	Baroque architecture
Groundbreaking	1504
Completed	1529
Administration
Diocese	Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples

Santa Maria del Parto a Mergellina (Holy Mary of Childbirth in Mergellina) is a church located in the quartiere of Chiaia in Naples, Italy. The church is peculiarly perched on top of a private building, and accessed by a strairway, placed behind a restaurant located in piazza Mergellina.

The church was founded by poet Jacopo Sannazaro, on land donated to him by King Frederick I of Aragon in 1497. In 1526, Sannazaro authored a poem in Latin hexameter titled De partus Virginis (Childbirth of the Virgin) that helped give the church its name. The church was completed shortly before the poet died in 1530, it was donated to the monks of Santa Maria dei Servi. Sannazzaro's tomb sits behind the altar. The lower church was originally dedicated to the Vergine del Parto (Virgin of Childbirth), and later converted into a crypt. The funeral chapel was originally dedicated to San Nazario, subsequently transformed into a church of "Santa Maria del Parto".In 1886, the church was declared a national monument and became property of the State.

The principal work in the church is the semi-pagan tomb of the poet, represented on the pedestal under the name of Actius Sincerus and being crowned by Fame in a fresco by Niccolò Rossi, a follower of Giordano. The statue with its complex pagan iconography (1537) is set in the choir behind the altar, and was built by the sculptors Bartolomeo Ammannati, Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli and Francesco Ferrucci, although initiated by Girolamo Santacroce Marble was purchased in 1537. The niche is inspired by the environment of Arcadia, also has depictions of Neptune with his trident, Pan and the nymph Syrinx, all in dancing and singing the praises of our poet, and a satyr which gazes in amazement. The arrangement is considered by some confused in composition and with exaggerated movements of the figures.

Statues of Apollo and Minerva flank the tomb, however, given their location in a church, their plinths are labeled David and Judith. An epitaph by the Venetian cardinal Pietro Bembo, secretary to Pope Leo X, on the tomb base reads: From flower to sacred ashes, here lies the famous and sincere Sannazaro, near to Virgil in poetry as in sepulchreVirgil's tomb is found nearby in Naples.