After decades of closure, since 2022 the place of worship a few steps from the port of Naples has reopened with the recovery of the artistic heritage and numerous initiatives carried out among the Baroque furnishings
curated by Culturadice Società Cooperativa Sociale
Culturadice Società Cooperativa Sociale was born in 2023 from the energy of a network of cooperatives that gave life to the Villa Fernandes project, an asset confiscated from the camorra and returned to the community as a social and cultural hub. We are a female and youth-led reality that has chosen to stay and work here, in the territory where we live, following in the footsteps of those in Naples, like the La Paranza cooperative in the Sanità district, who have demonstrated that the enhancement of cultural heritage can generate work, cohesion, and new opportunities.
Our first test was the Church of Santa Maria di Portosalvo, “the church of the sailors” facing the port of Naples, which had remained closed for over twenty-five years. Since 2022, and then in continuity with the formal establishment of the cooperative, we have reopened its doors and have taken care of its maintenance, cleaning, and cultural animation, with the support of the Villa Fernandes network and Ambiente Solidale. Portosalvo houses masterpieces like The Glory of the Virgin (1634) by Battistello Caracciolo: starting from here meant mending the bond between an identity-forming place and its community.
In these years, through exhibitions, book presentations, workshops, concerts, and talks, we have carried out over 100 initiatives at Portosalvo; in the church, we estimate over 10,000 total entries thanks to visits, events, and access programs. Numbers that tell a simple truth: without this care, the church would have remained an abandoned place.
Our shared passion for art and culture has become a concrete tool for social inclusion: guided tours and narratives to give back history and meaning; exhibitions to bring artists and citizens together; book presentations, music, and training to transform the church into a living and welcoming space, while respecting its sacredness. A stable presence is ensured by 4 Civil Service volunteers per year, who keep the church open from Tuesday to Sunday and support reception, visits, and programming. Thanks to the “Cultura Crea 2.0” program by Invitalia, we have structured a revitalization program that intertwines heritage protection, participation, and youth employment; with projects like “Art éco” from the Municipality of Naples, we have experimented with contemporary languages and sustainable practices; in schools, with programs like “ImprovvisAzioni”, we use theater and visual arts to develop emotional and social skills.
Enhancing Portosalvo means holding together beauty and rights, memory and future. Not a simple “management” of a place, but a community workshop where art becomes dignified work, civic education, and care for the common good. This is the dream with which we were born in 2023 and that, day after day, we try to make shared: to ensure that the cultural heritage of our city is an engine of development, inclusion, and possibility for everyone, starting from here, from Naples.
