2nd STAGE
From Piazza San Gaetano to the Gerolomini
From this point, the walk continues to the intersection with via Duomo amid shops and religious buildings of great historical and artistic interest. Along the route, as well, are many private dwellings as well as the imposing larger structures of the basilica of San Paolo Maggiore and that of San Lorenzo Maggiore, located on the site of the ancient Roman forum. The former, San Paolo Maggiore, now presents a 17th-century soaring double staircase that dominates the entire square; the church, itself, goes back to the 8th century and was built on the remains of the ancient temple to Castor and Pollux, from which structure a few Corinthian columns have been conserved. Thus, the church has paleo-Christian origins; in the first half of the 1500s it was entrusted to and cared for by clergy who enlarged the transept and central portion of the church including the naves, lateral chapels, and facade (to a design by Guglielminelli) such that the facade now incorporates two columns of the ancient temple.

The latter structure, San Lorenzo, across the square, is where tradition says that Boccaccio first met Fiametta, but the true historical importance of the church comes from archaeological discoveries beneath the courtyard of the monastery, itself. The site was given to the Franciscan order, and the church was then built at the end of the 1200s and beginning of the 1300s on the ruins of a paleo-Christian church from the 6th century, which ruins were only discovered by later archaeology beneath the church and monastery. The main hall of the church presents a trussed covering and lateral chapels of northern-European influence, evidenced by the ribbed vaults. The facade is from 1742 and is the work of Ferdinando Sanfelice and conserves the Angevin marble portal. The original belfry survived until 1456 when it was toppled by an earthquake and replaced by the one seen today. Within the church there are fine wooden crosses from the 1300s, multi-panel terracotta displays from the 1500s, the sepulcher of Catherine of Austria (the work of Tino da Camaino), and polychrome marble statuary of Cosimo Fanzago, who helped design the chapels for the gentry as did Mattia Preti the larger chapel of Sant'Antonio. From the central courtyard, there is access to the excavated site--that is, the forum, the shops and secondary Greco-Roman structures of the macellum, the marketplace of the ancient city.