Description: Santa Maria Donna Regina Church is called “Nuova” (new) to be distinguished from the older Angevin church of Santa Maria Donna Regina Vecchia. The earliest church was built on this location in the 14th century. The nuns from the adjacent monastery commissioned the new structure. While traditionally the architect Giovanni Guarino, a pupil of Francesco Grimaldi was cited as the architect of the present Baroque church, more recent documentation cites Giovanni Giacomo Conforto. The first documented payments for design were from 1626.
Within the church is the Museo Diocesano di Napoli, which boasts a collection of more than three hundred works of sacred art. This new art venue to grace the old town of Naples stands on the axis of the decumanus maximus. The Museum houses works of great merit, including the ‘Immaculate Conception’ by Charles Mellin of Lorraine, of 1646; ‘Saint Francis receiving the symbols of the priesthood’, a rare iconography painted by Solimena; and the tender ‘Madonna Child’ by Massimo Stanzione.