Naples and San Gennaro, a city and its saint. A blood bond, primarily religious but also cultural, social, artistic, anthropological, unites the capital of the South and the Christian bishop and martyr, main patron of the Neapolitans. Who celebrate, believers and non-believers, when three times a year (the Saturday before the first Sunday of May, with the procession; 19 September, the day of the anniversary of the martyr’s beheading; 16 December) the faithful crowd into the Cathedral to witness the miracle of the blood liquefying in the ampullae.
It is a story of deep faith and devotion, a popular and almost personal relationship with the sacred that often borders on superstition. Cinema, theater and many writers over the centuries have explored this theme. The relationship is both religious and secular. Like the Deputation – chaired by the mayor Gaetano Manfredi – which for over five centuries has housed the relics of San Gennaro – the bust with the head of the saint and the shrine with the ampoules – and the treasure of inestimable value, the result of donations from queens, sovereigns, heads of state and princes over the centuries.
“Repubblica” explores the strength of this connection between Naples and its patron saint in two volumes of great value, as a tribute with our newspaper – Naples edition – on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May, coinciding with the procession and the wait for the white handkerchief waved to certify the miracle that had occurred. The work, in collaboration with the publisher Guida, published in the Novanta-Venti editorial series connected to our newspaper, is made up of two volumes, the 27th and 28th of the series. The first is entitled “San Gennaro – The Myth”, the second “San Gennaro – The Treasure”.
In the first book they write, among others, after the director’s preface Maurizio Molinarithe archbishop Domenico BattagliaMayor Gaetano Manfrediexponents of the Church such as Gennaro Matino, Antonio Loffredo, Vincenzo De Gregorio, Adolfo Russothe anthropologist Marino Niolathe members of the Deputation of the Royal Chapel of the Treasury, Riccardo Carafa d’Andria And Pierluigi Sanfelice of Bagnoli, the teachers Matteo Palumbo And Aurelio Musi, many others. In the second, next to the curators Ilaria D’Uva And Francesca Ummarinothe spectacular Treasure of San Gennaro opens its doors to Neapolitans, in a volume with author’s texts which is also an audiobook, to virtually enter the walk among golds and gems.
