Old Jesus and new Jesus
The Sanctuary Basilica of the Gesù Vecchio is one of the basilicas of Naples; is located in via G. Paladino, in the heart of the historic city center. The temple is called the "Old Jesus" or the Immaculate Conception of Don Placido, because a new church was built a short distance away, known as the church of the "New Jesus", a particular example of Neapolitan baroque.
The church has a baroque façade built at the end of the 17th century by Giovan Domenico Vinaccia, with a slightly convex shape: in the center there is the entrance door, dominated by a large rectangular window.
The interior of the church has an architectural structure defined as a Latin cross, characterized by a single nave and side chapels, with numerous works of art, including, in the third chapel on the left, the canvas depicting Saint Luigi Gonzaga, of Battistello Caracciolo (1627), the paintings of Marco Pino da Siena (Transfiguration, Madonna and the Circumcision), some paintings by Girolamo Cenatiempo (1712) in the first, third and fourth chapel on the left, the altarpiece of San Francesco Saverio, by Fracanzano ( 1641) and the statue of St. Francis Borgia by Pietro Ghetti. The high altar contains a sculpture of the Immaculate, which belonged to Don Placido. In the sacristy there is a painting by Francesco De Mura depicting Mary indicating the monogram of Christ to Saint Luigi Gonzaga (mid-eighteenth century).