THE WONDERS OF SAN SEVERO

The great philosopher and historian Benedetto Croce called Prince Raimondo di Sangro di San Severo the “Doctor Faust” of Naples because he spent his life defying all the laws of time and space, and the beliefs of his time. During the first half of the eighteenth century, he was saved from ecclesiastical censure for having imported the principles of the Enlightenment and the rites of Freemasonry into the Kingdom of Naples, thanks to his very high noble rank. He was, in fact, also a Peer of Spain. Alchemist, necromancer, inventor, experimenter beyond the limits of Nature, Raimondo di San Severo left his time machine in the heart of the historic center of Naples, in the splendid and precious space of the chapel that bears his name. Officially a family tomb, it still releases positive and luminous energy, and a vital drive towards esoteric and symbolic dimensions.

The marble groups that decorate the perimeter refer to an initiatory journey aimed at virtue and perfection, the prodigious Veiled Christ by Sammartino is awe-inspiring for not only the artistic power of the body piously hidden and at the same time revealed by the marble drapery, which appears more light and transparent than freshly placed gauze. In turn, the secret crypt below holds two anatomical machines that highlight the circulatory system of the bodies, which survived decay in the rest of the body. An impressive experiment between alchemy and nascent science, such as the legendary invention of the so-called perpetual lamp and the amphibious carriage.

Venerated and feared by the Neapolitans as a lay saint, guardian of the secrets of the miracle of the dissolution of the blood of San Gennaro, Raimondo di Sangro di San Severo managed to survive the passing of centuries, as well as himself.