The Church of Gesù Nuovo (New Jesus) was originally a palace built in 1470 for Roberto Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno. The Jesuits had already built a church in Naples, now called Gesú Vecchio. Political intrigues caused the property to be confiscated, and eventually sold in the 1580s to the Jesuits for 45,000 ducats to construct a church (1584–1601) under architect Giuseppe Valeriano. When the Jesuits were expelled from Naples in 1767, the church passed to the Franciscan order. The Jesuits returned in 1821. The unusual facade, unusually plain for a Baroque style church, is of rusticated ashlar and is the original façade of the palace.

Great architecture!! Amazing!! ????? · 2011-03-17: 11:38

Awesome. joycephotography · 2011-03-17: 12:22

What a church! great post! krasotulichka · 2011-03-17: 13:41

Je suis séduite par cette façade extra-ordinaire dont l'aspect doit changer en fonction de la lumière et des saisons josy63 · 2011-03-17: 14:49

Excellent post !! finbarr · 2011-03-17: 16:08

#espléndida... miguelcruz · 2011-03-17: 16:24

Fascinating. I had never heard of rusticated ashlar so I looked it up. I learn something new every day on photoblog! SADHYA · 2011-03-17: 17:54

Interesting facade! darfoster · 2011-03-17: 18:07

Beautiful! pandka · 2011-03-18: 09:34

Tagged: gesù noptek church