Pozzuoli Cathedral

Bishop Gian Matteo Castaldo restored it, funding it by selling off all the episcopal stable-ware of the value of 200 gold ducats or less, for which he was given permission by Pope Paul III on 16 June 1544.

Next to the church was a chapel, initially dedicated to James the Great and first built in 1354 by prince Louis of Taranto, husband of Joanna I of Naples.

It had been handed over to the canons of Pozzuoli in 1363 and rededicated as 'San Giacomo Reale' in 1500, possibly to distinguish it from the nearby Cioffis chapel or from what is now Santa Maria della Consolazione.

It was rebuilt following the eruption of Monte Nuovo in 1538 and entrusted to the confraternity dedicated to the Most Holy Body of Christ (Santissimo Corpo di Cristo), to which the chapel was rededicated at the same time.

The paintings were saved and re-housed in the sacristy, the Santissimo Corpo chapel, the Capodimonte, the San Martino and other museums and galleries in Naples.

Restoration work began under the museologist Ezio De Felice in 1968 and for the next forty years Santa Maria della Consolazione served as the city's cathedral, with San Paolo added as a co-cathedral in 1995.

Inside, it has a single nave formed of the ancient cella and pronaos, with the gaps between the columns along its long sides filled with glass.