Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco, Naples

Purgatorio ad Arco is a church devoted to prayer for souls in purgatory, built by Giovanni Cola di Franco and consecrated in 1638. Its Baroque interior makes that subject tangible: skulls with wings appear beside the main altarpiece, set into the pilasters amid richly worked marble and stucco. The central painting, by Massimo Stanzione, shows the Virgin aiding souls in purgatory.

Look at the sculpted winged skull beneath it, then at the canvas above, where Giacomo Farelli depicts Saint Anne presenting the young Virgin to God the Father. Paintings by Andrea Vaccaro and Luca Giordano occupy the side chapels, while a monumental tomb commemorates Giulio Mastrillo. The church also extends underground.

A plainer lower chapel served for the burial of poor, unclaimed dead, and its austerity is deliberate: the main altar carries only a simple cross. A passage leads to an ossuary and to a devotional display featuring a crowned skull popularly called Lucia. Her identity is unconfirmed, and the association with young brides belongs to local legend. The rooms behind the apse, together with the underground complex, form the Museum of the Opera Pia Purgatorio ad Arco, preserving religious objects and vestments from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries.