The monumental dome of the Insigne Collegiata di Marigliano, one of the richest art treasures in the province of Naples but also one of the least appreciated, is at risk.
Cracks, waterlogged walls, crumbling stucco, lifting, peeling, and sulfation of the paint layer. The Ministry of Culture is providing €100 for conservative restoration, but it won't be enough to eliminate the extensive leaks and restore the damaged paint and stucco.
In fact, rainwater not only infiltrated through the skylight lantern but also insinuated itself between the cracks and crevices of the drum and between the eighteenth-century majolica of the valuable external covering of the dome. Cracks, lesions, damage, due to rain, frost, sun, invasive vegetation but above all to lightning and the dramatic floods of 2017 which accentuated its static degradation.
In the absence of effective interventions, the surface deterioration has increased over the years. Today, not only the majestic architectural structure, erected above the choir in 1633, is in a precarious state of preservation, but also the fresco decoration of the intrados, created in 1738 by the Roman painter Ludovico Mazzante (Rome, 1686 – Viterbo, 1775), commissioned by the Mastrilli dukes of Marigliano to decorate the city's "cathedral," as documented in the period.
Luigi Monda, president of the ProBorgo Committee for the protection of Campania's cultural heritage, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, writes: "The Ministry's attention is an important signal but, unfortunately, the particularly serious situation and the limited funding will not allow for a complete and decisive conservative restoration.
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Under layers of moss, mold, and saltpetre, the smooth, brilliant Evangelists on the plumes are disappearing, but above all, the festive, theatrical "Glory of Paradise" that had drawn praise from travelers who, from the capital of the Kingdom, traveled to the Nola area and then to Irpinia to visit archaeological ruins, art collections, and prestigious religious complexes.
Faced with the tangible threat of permanent loss of cultural heritage, the Ministry of Culture has funded only an initial protection project under the 2023 public works program. In fact, the entire restoration of the dome has been estimated at €450 by the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape of the Metropolitan Area of Naples, which will carry out the work.
Art historian Giovanni Villano, who has dedicated numerous studies to the monument, points out: The allocated funds will only be able to address the emergency, erect the scaffolding, and prepare the diagnostic tests for the preliminary study and support for the actual restoration. We are facing a complex and delicate project that requires different types of work and specific expertise.
Not only the masonry but also the decorative elements must be restored: the external majolica cladding, the interior frescoes, the stuccoes, and the spandrels. The government must invest more to protect the artistic heritage of the metropolitan area of Naples and find the necessary resources to restore this building, which represents an extraordinary historical, architectural, and religious asset..
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