San Giovanni a Carbonara stands at the northern end of Via Carbonara in Naples, just outside the old city's eastern wall. Carbonara refers to a medieval site where refuse was collected and burned. Work began in 1339, the Augustinians founded the monastery in 1343, and the church was completed in the early fifteenth century. It began in the Angevin Gothic style, on a Latin cross plan with a rectangular nave.
King Ladislaus of Durazzo paid for the completion and made the church a Pantheon-like tribute to the last Angevin rulers. His tomb was commissioned by his sister, Queen Joanna II, and carved by Andrea Ciccione. Ferdinando Sanfelice built the facade and its scenographic stairwell around 1707.
The Caracciolo del Sole Chapel has Renaissance frescoes, and the Seripando Chapel has a Crucifixion by Giorgio Vasari. Allied bombing damaged the church in 1943.
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