Two blocks east, along Via Benedetto Croce (part of the Decumano Inferiore commonly called Spaccanapoli) rises the church of San Domenico Maggiore.

[2] The interpretation for the nickname is that the headless statue was thought to be a female representation of the city breastfeeding its children – hence the Corpo di Napoli ('body of naples').

[3] In recent times, the statue was restored twice: First in 1993, and then in 2013 after the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage had recovered the head of the sphinx in Austria, which had disappeared in the 1950s.

The inscription under the statue reads: Vetustissimam Nili Statuam Ab Alexandrinis Olim Ut Fama Est In Proximo Habitantibus Velut Patrio Numini Positam Deinde Temporum Injuria Corruptam Capiteque Truncatam Aediles Quidem Anni MDCLXVII Ne Quae Huic Regioni Celebre Nomen Fecit Sine Honore Jaceret Restituendam Conlocandamque Aediles Vero Anni MDCCXXXIV Fulciendam Novoque Pigrammate Ornandum Curavere Placido Princ.

The earlier 1667 inscription of this statue – referenced in the current inscription – is recorded in travel writings of Johann Georg Keyßler (mid 18th-century) still noting a crocodile, which is absent today:[5] Vetustissimam Nili Statuam vides, At capite nuper auctam non suo Hoc scilicet Nili fatum est Suum quod occulat caput Alieno spectari; Ne tamen observandum antiquitatis monumentum Quod proximæ Nobilium sedi nomen fecit.