Naples - Santa Maria della Colonna

The adorably cute Santa Maria della Colonna

Santa Maria della Colonna: Directly opposite the church of the Girolamini is the little yellow church of Santa Maria della Colonna. This delightfully whimsical gem is nestled, or rather wedged, between two residential blocks that have seen better days. Well they must have surely?

The church had a number of notable features on the façade. Two statues flank the entrance in niches topped with cockle shells, there are a number of cherubs or seraphim hanging about a plaque over the portal and the upper window has some interesting sculptural detail over the center. The capitals to the pilasters appear to be some sort of hybrid of the Composite order. Which itself was a hybrid (hence the name Composite)… The little dome that tops it all off is irresistibly possibly unnecessarily cute.

After the Piazza Jesu Nuovo, I think this is my favorite square in Naples.

The small roads leading south off the square were also delightful.  Almost quaint, as the below picture attests.