| The monastic complex came into being in 1725 at the behest of Aurelia Imperiali, the widow of Duke Petracone V Caracciolo, and of Isabella Avalos. The intention was to accept poor young girls prepared to wear the Augustinian habit and to share the rule. The convent also accepted young girls that had gone astray or were abandoned, who could also decide to leave the convent at a certain age and to marry; in this case the convent also gave them a dowry. The convent maintained itself with its own incomes but also through processing of manufactured articles, with activities typical of feminine arts, like embroidery, confectionery, dressmaking etc.
This convent arose after that of Santa Maria della Purità, with substantial differences. While Santa Maria della Purità was mainly an enclosed order convent, the new convent had the characteristics of a family structure and one giving social assistance. The complex arose from the aggregation of different private buildings, the biggest nucleus of which belonged to the Turnone family. For this reason it breaks away from the classical typology of the central cloister with the building rotating around it.
The entrance portal, in late Renaissance ashlar-work, is hidden at the end of a blind alley. Along the whole external side in Via Principe Umberto, up above there are some windows with protruding gratings, and further upat the height of the balcony a baluster in stone pierced by motifs with symbolic evocation.
The chapel, known as that of the Madonna of Mercy, has an independent entrance. The portal is very simple. The interior consists in a single room; there are two Baroque altars painted to look like polychrome marble and canvases attributed to the school of Carella. An important feature is the effigy of the Holy Face, kept in a silver frame. |