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                                  | PozzuoliSaint Gennaro
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                                San 
                              Gennaro Sanctuary is closed to Solfatara. Here in 
                              305 A.D., where Gennaro, bishop of Benevento, suffered 
                              martyrdom, a basilica was erected for his memento 
                              between the end of the VI century and the beginning 
                              of the VII century. Probably just the altar remained 
                              of the whole church and maybe it was the stone on 
                              which the Saint was beheaded. The eruption ot the 
                              Solfatara, in 1198, caused its ruin and the building 
                              was restored several times after many earthquakes, 
                              especially those preceding the terrible eruption 
                              which brought to the formation of the Monte Nuovo 
                              (1538). The church was rebuilt in larger shapes 
                              and after 1584, it got a famous place where worshipping 
                              the Saint and martyr bishop; therefore it got a 
                              destination of pilgrimage aboveall for people from 
                              Naples. It got sanctuary and between 1701-1708 the 
                              architect Ferdinando Sanfelice made the project 
                              for enlarging it. In the night between 21st and 
                              22nd February 1860A fire broken out and half-destroyed 
                              it. It was restored in a short time and today the 
                              facade is simple with a deep pronaos enriched with 
                              two Tuscan columns; on the walls there are several 
                              epigraphs commemorating t 
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                              most important events in the history of the monument. 
                              The interior has a single nave covered by a groined 
                              barrel vault, separated from the presbytery by a 
                              huge triumphal arch. In the chapel on the right, 
                              dedicated to Saint Gennaro, the early Christian 
                              altar with the fenestella confessionis (small confessional), 
                              brought here from the ancient basilica, and the 
                              marble bust of the Saint, dating back to the first 
                              years of the XIV century are preserved. Outside 
                              the chapel, on the left side, the marble high relief 
                              with Saint Gennaro's martyrdom by Lorenzo Vaccaro 
                              is remarkable. |  |   
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