The church of Gesù Nuovo is located in the homonymous square, in front of the obelisk of the Immaculate and the basilica of Santa Chiara. It is one of the most beautiful churches in Naples, rich in baroque paintings and sculptures. Where the church now stands was the Palazzo Sanseverino designed in 1470 by Roberto Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno. Sold to the Jesuits in 1584, the palace was converted into a church. The architects Giuseppe Valeriano and Pietro Provedi completely gutted the building, leaving only the ashlar facade, a sort of pyramids jutting out, and the marble portal. The church was consecrated on 7 October 1601 and, although dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, was called "del Gesù Nuovo" (meaning "of the New Jesus"), to distinguish it from the other already existing, which since then took the name of "Gesù Vecchio" (meaning "of the "Old Jesus").
Between 1629 and 1634 the first dome was erected, frescoed by Giovanni Lanfranco with a Paradise. In 1639, due to a fire, the church was subjected to restoration works directed by Cosimo Fanzago. Following the earthquake of 1688, which caused the collapse of the dome and the damage to the interior, reconstruction work was carried out: the dome was rebuilt and the marble portal was enriched with two columns, two angels and the coat of arms of the Jesuits "IHS". In the eighteenth century the church underwent several interventions and from 1774 it was closed for about thirty years because of the partial collapse of the dome, which was then replaced by a false dome with a crushed shell. After the Bourbons returned after the French Decade, in 1821 the church, for a long period entrusted to the Franciscans, returned to the possession of the Jesuits. On 8 December 1857, when the high altar designed by Giuseppe Grossi was completed, the church was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. During the Second World War it suffered heavy damages due to the aerial bombardments. In 1975 it was restored again. During the Renaissance period there were in Naples some "experts" of stone that were believed to have the power to charge it with positive energy to ward off negativity. The singular engraved marks that can be observed on the façade, on the sides of the ashlars, have the shape of diamond points and it seems that, given their particular sequence, they allow us to intuit a mysterious key of reading. The legend that revolves around the special structure of the facade tells that those who built this monumental church, probably Roberto Sanseverino, have used masters pipernieri, also experts in esoteric secrets and able to positively load the stones. The occult symbols placed on the pyramids of the façade are linked to the magic arts or alchemy and had the task of directing all positive and benevolent energies from the outside towards the inside. Because of the inexperience or even bad faith of the builders, these marked stones were positioned incorrectly and the effect was the opposite of the desired one: all positive magnetism was poured from the inside out of the structure leaving ample room for the fall of disasters on the place. In this somewhat bizarre way, it explains why, over time, so many misfortunes have befallen this building: from the requisition of property to the Sanseverino, to the demolition of the palace, to the burning of the church, until the multiple collapses of the dome and the various expulsions of the Jesuits.