Basilica Santuario di Maria Santissima del Carmine Maggiore

This guide to the Basilica Santuario di Maria Santissima del Carmine Maggiore in Naples follows Giuseppe Nuvolo, a Dominican friar handed an unfinished Carmelite bell tower left bare after architect Giovanni Giacomo Conforto died around 1630. It traces why a monk from a rival order ended up finishing the job in an entirely different material, and follows the anonymous laborers who carried tiles up the scaffolding by hand. Along the way it visits the church's own violent past, including a crucifix said to have lost its crown of thorns to a cannonball during the 1439 siege. Listen with the bell tower in view above the market square.