Fragment of the inscription from the Pignatelli altar

Part of the history of a great artistic undertaking from the sixteenth century

The fragment, currently walled into the former cloister of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, was part of a larger inscription positioned over the altar commissioned by Ettore III Pignatelli, Duke of Monteleone in 1598, during a re-arrangement of the choir area in the church of Santa Maria del Gesù (today Santa Maria la Nova). 

The refinement of the undertaking, demonstrated by the variety of marble used in the new liturgical furnishings, is reiterated in the slab the inscription is engraved on. It is in green Calabria marble, and further embellished by the gilding of the capital letters. 

The text of the epigraph, now fragmentary, is reported by the main historical sources on the city, to reaffirm Ettore III’s continued patronage following his namesake ancestor, the viceroy of Sicily and first duke of Monteleone.