Being Neapolitan means having said it at least once: don't mess around with Mazzarella and San Giuseppe !

We all know the meaning: it means avoiding abusing other people's patience to avoid unpleasant consequences.
But why do we say it like that?

Neapolitan Republic wanted to investigate the origins of this expression and to do so visited the monumental church of San Giuseppe dei Nudi , built in the street of the same name.

This temple was erected by Giovanni del Gaizo in 1785 on commission from the Archconfraternity and Royal Mount of Saint Joseph , composed of nobles, lawyers, architects, artists, and prelates. In 1888, it was restored by Luigi Angiolia , but the structure remained intact: it has a Greek cross plan, at the back is the high altar with the 1852 painting by Achille Jovene depicting " Saint Joseph and the Pious Work of Clotheing the Naked ," while the left side altar is surmounted by a splendid " Adoration of the Shepherds " and the right one by a " Saint Margaret of Cortona ."

On the vault, some frescoes painted by Gaetano D'Agostino during the aforementioned late nineteenth-century restoration are preserved in very poor condition, while above the entrance there is the choir loft on which is positioned a valuable eighteenth-century organ in gilded wood.

In the sacristy and in the rooms immediately following there are eighteenth-century furnishings and several works of fine workmanship attributed to artists such as Giovanni Cingeri , a pupil of the late Solimena, or Gaetano D'Agostino .

All the rooms are filled with sculptures, sacred vestments and notable relics, but the most important of all is certainly the protagonist of this article: the staff of Saint Joseph .

According to some gospels, Joseph, who was particularly old when Jesus was born, walked with the help of a stick that began to blossom precisely when Mary was pregnant.

Fast forward to 1700 , when the Carmelite Fathers of Sussex , England, announced their possession of the miraculous staff, sparking considerable interest. At that point, Neapolitan Nicolino Lombardi asked to bring the relic to his hometown, taking advantage of a score Hampden had to settle for having saved Sir Richard Hampden from a death sentence a few years earlier thanks to connections he had with the British crown.

For this reason his wish was fulfilled and in 1795 the staff arrived at the Royal Archconfraternity and Mount of San Giuseppe of the Work of Dressing the Naked and the Shamed (later abbreviated to San Giuseppe dei Nudi).

The relic was put on display and inevitably began to attract a huge crowd of curious onlookers and believers. Some attempted to steal it, some tried to break off a piece, some simply wanted to fondle it, all more or less damaging and wearing out this precious relic.

At that point, Nicolino's servant, a Venetian, annoyed and impatient with the situation, decided to stand guard over the stick, warning the intrusive faithful with the phrase " don't rub the Mazzarella di San Giuseppe " which, repeated by the Neapolitans, became " nun sfruculiate 'a Mazzarella e San Giuseppe ".

Today, while the church is consecrated and in use, the Mazzarella can no longer be examined because it is protected by a glass case and can only be visited on special occasions, along with two other equally valuable relics: a piece of the shroud that wrapped Jesus at his birth (to date only three have been found in the world) and a shard of the Holy Cross.

An unusual and intriguing Neapolitan story, just like us!

Check out the reel we made 🎬