Chiesa di Santa Maria della Libera, Baroque church and convent in central Naples, Italy

The Chiesa di Santa Maria della Libera is a baroque church with a convent building in Naples, distinguished by Ionic pilasters, a decorated entrance portal, and a medallion supported by angels on its outer wall. The complex sits between surrounding buildings and streets, showing how tightly packed the historic center of the city is.

Annibale Cesareo founded the complex in 1587 for sixteen reformed Dominicans, who made it a priory in 1601. The friars were expelled in 1809, returned in 1820, and were expelled again in 1866, after which the convent became municipal property and now houses a state school. Earthquakes in 1930 and 1980 damaged it badly; the 1980 quake brought down the church dome, rebuilt only in 1983-84.

The complex also holds the 19th-century chapel of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, with works of the same period and a 17th-century altar. The main church keeps a 18th-century polychrome marble main altar topped by a painting of the Virgin, and a polyptych of the Madonna del Rosario by Marco Mele.

The building is located within walking distance between Piazza Mazzini and Montesanto in Naples' UNESCO World Heritage historic center, accessible from several directions. Being in this area makes it easy to combine a visit with nearby historic sites.

The convent passed to the municipality after the Dominicans were expelled in 1866 and now houses a state school. The church, once a pilgrimage site set among the countryside heights, is today a parish in a densely built residential district.