Museums in Naples Italy: Santa Chiara Museum

THE MONESTARY is adjacent to a cloister dating back to the XIV Century, which was transformed into a refined laical garden in 1739 – work of Domenico Antonio Vaccaro who entrusted the “riggiole,” in dialect, or in other words, the handmade tiles to Giuseppe e Donato Massa. The tiles, which cover the columns and seating along the avenues, depict Country and Rustic Scenes, Masquerades, Carnival Triumphs and Mythological Scenes; much of which are the missing parts of the characteristic sacred ones. The colours of the tiles blend in with those of the lemon branches and the sky. Two avenues cross and divide the garden, which is slightly raised by ambulatory conserving frescoes from the 17th Century. On the convent site, archaeological digs have brought to light traces of Roman spas. Leading off from the Cloisters, along the west side, one can access the Museo dell’Opera (Artworks Museum) where ancient marble sculptures coming from the Medieval and Renaissance eras can be admired, along with liturgical objects and reliquary busts dating back to the 15th and 18th Centuries.

THE CLOISTER OF SAINT CHIARA
	THE MONESTARY is adjacent to a cloister dating back to the XIV Century, which was transformed into a refined laical garden in 1739 – work of Domenico Antonio Vaccaro who entrusted the “riggiole,” in dialect, or in other words, the handmade tiles to Giuseppe e Donato Massa. The tiles, which cover the columns and seating along the avenues, depict Country and Rustic Scenes, Masquerades, Carnival Triumphs and Mythological Scenes; much of which are the missing parts of the characteristic sacred ones. The colours of the tiles blend in with those of the lemon branches and the sky. Two avenues cross and divide the garden, which is slightly raised by ambulatory conserving frescoes from the 17th Century. On the convent site, archaeological digs have brought to light traces of Roman spas. Leading off from the Cloisters, along the west side, one can access the Museo dell’Opera (Artworks Museum) where ancient marble sculptures coming from the Medieval and Renaissance eras can be admired, along with liturgical objects and reliquary busts dating back to the 15th and 18th Centuries.