Chiesa di Santa Maria Francesca delle Cinque Piaghe

"Early risers can enter the metaphysical world at 7 am on Vico Tre Re in an ordinary apartment house where a nun, now a saint named Santa Maria Francesca delle Cinque Piaghe, once lived. Neapolitans call her La Santarella. It is believed that if you sit in her chair, infertility can be cured. The ground-floor apartment is now a chapel; the first part of the visit is Mass. Immediately after, a nun opens a door behind the altar and invites the crowd upstairs. The first room is like a museum with relics displayed in a large credenza, dark Baroque paintings, and a terrifying wax figure of the saint with a mystical gaze on her gaunt face. Personal items like a handkerchief that belongs to the saint are framed and hanging on the walls. And then I see the old, ordinary-looking chair next to the large open window. One by one, the same nun invites men and women to sit in the chair. She asks a question, murmurs a benediction in a low voice, then holds an elaborate reliquary first to the forehead of the person, then to their breast. They exit into a room filled with silver ex-votos, next to baby toys and pillows sent from around the world, many stitched with the name “Francesca.” Paintings of the saint’s miracles, all joyful artifacts of graces received, adorn the rest of the apartment. Santa Maria Francesca is considered a home saint. She fled an abusive marriage to join a sisterhood and dedicate her life to helping the poor. She suffered the stigmata (5 wounds) in this apartment, in a working-class neighborhood directly below Vomero Hill, the wealthiest district of Naples. The Spanish Quarter refers to the narrow streets constructed during the 15th century when the urban grid of Naples was being reshaped by its new Spanish king. This district, formed by a grid of narrow streets in the city's heart, was home to the Spanish troops ready to quell any rebellions. It’s a fair guess that buried deep below Vico Tre Re is the temple of a fertility goddess."