Diamonds and Semi-precious Metals

Ex-Voto from a church in Sorrento

So many of the sites I end up visiting here in Europe are churches of one type or another.  Most of the time I find myself fixated on the ceilings above or the floors below, but every once in a while I actually catch sight of the in-between.  The first time I saw these little metal doll parts (and took notice of them) was in our local Duomo here in Ferrara.  They are tucked away on a back wall easily missed due to the gorgeous alter on their right.  They aren’t advertised, or even illuminated, they just sort of hang out mostly on their own.  They are quite curious though, these metallic hearts, legs and organs.  I found myself looking around for some sort of explanation, but let’s be honest, even if I found one, it would have been in Italian and I wouldn’t have had a clue.  Therefore, like so many curiosities I encounter, the images got stowed away in some seldom accessed nook of my brain and off I went shoe shopping.   

The thing about those nooks and crannies is, sometimes they get accessed.  The fam and I were walking to the train station one day in Sorrento and there was an open church door.  Curiosity got the best of me, much to my poor, drug everywhere children’s grumbles.   It wasn’t the largest or most grand church, but once inside my eyes, of course, went straight to the ceilings.  Gorgeous!  I took photos like I was getting paid by the frame.  On the way out, after a good 60 frames, I see these kooky little body parts!  As with the dog and his bone, I couldn’t let go.  A curiosity had turned to a fascination. 

A couple days later we found ourselves touring inside one of the most interesting churches we had stumbled upon, Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo, a basilica in the heart of Naples.  The name translates to approximately, “Church of the New Jesus”.  The first thing I found fascinating about this place was the façade.  Our town, Ferrara, is riddled with museums, but by far the most famous and fascinating is the Palazzo Dei Diamante, or The Diamond Palace. 

Palazzo Dei Diamante

The name comes from all the hand carved marble diamonds on the face of the building. This place wasn’t always a museum. It was built as a palace for one of those darn Estes I’m always talking about. It was built in 1493 and to say it was another time would be a sad understatement. There seemed to be much more than zoning laws to consider when building in that day. Energy was of the utmost importance and every project needed to have a renowned astrologer on the payroll to tap into the past harmony with nature as well as the forces of heaven and God.


So, legend has it that there was a diamond from the crown of Ercole d'Este hidden in one of the carved diamonds. Why? Why place a valuable gem on the OUTSIDE of a building? To concentrate the earth energies within the building, Duh. Diamante was built to attract the positive forces of the universe. Positive forces or not, I would imagine a hidden gem would attract thieves. Apparently me and the old Duke have that in common. You see, only he and one other dude knew where the diamond was supposedly hidden. As a way to say thanks for your help, the always pleasant Duke had the other man blinded and cut out his tongue for good measure. I personally prefer dinner invitations in thanks, but I’m no royal now am I?




The museum is a fave. I have seen every one of the world class exhibits they have shown during my time here in Ferrara. The most recent I somehow got in for free. I think it may have been the staff doing penance for the nasty Duke, or because I am a resident. What evs.



This actually was the best photo I took of the outside of the church.  If you want to see a better picture, try Google :)



Okay, back to the Church of the New Jesus (conveniently located across the palazzo to the Church of the Old Jesus). The similarities between the Diamond Palace and this place stuck right out. Ha!


Some of the similarities are a bit more obscure.


It really is the façade of this building that fascinates me. Again, it is covered with carved pyramids like a more rustic version of the Diamante. This building is in Naples, in the South of Italy. This Venetian Renaissance architectural style was practically unknown in the south which made this building curious from the start. Let’s explore some deeper curiosities shall we? So positive energy is way better than the alternative negative energy right? Well, if one wants to let the good in and keep the bad out, one needs to hire stone masons that specialize in these things, which they did. When the stones were placed, they included a myriad of signs carved into them. Sounds like Ercole d'Este wasn't the only one hiding things in a diamond point façade. Anyway, legend had it that these etchings were part of the positive energy thing, but maybe they got a bit mixed up because this church just kept suffering one crazy disaster after another. The Jesuits kept being kicked out, the place caught fire, the dome collapsed…a few times, the place was robbed, and well, it was bombed in a little scuffle referred to as WWII. Fail.

Well, in 2010, after centuries of folks thinking that this place just got put together wrong and instead of bringing in all the positive energy, it was bringing in nothing but negative, a discovery was made. The crazy graffiti carved into points was actually Aramaic letters and made a forty-five minute concerto which is now known as Enigma. That makes me want to go watch X-men. Anyone else?


Inside this fabulously resilient Church of the New Jesus is the most spectacular collection of little metal body parts!

I cannot capture it all in one photo.  It is unreal!  The frames wrap and twist around the back of this side chapel climbing the walls to the ceiling!

Here is one of many groupings

Close up from within the chapel

So what are these things? Ex-voto, votive deposits, or votive offerings. Obviously I knew nothing about these when my curiousity got the better of me, but I am capable of researching things of interest. I may have stumbled across these in a Catholic church, but votives go way back. I found pictures I took from items recovered at Pompei listed as ex-voto!  Archaeologists actually found this sort of offering in Sparta in the 5th century BC! It is amazing how many relics are attributed to this sort of offering. In older cultures, it appears these offerings were made in anticipation of prayer or wish fulfillment, or to make nice with some sort of supernatural force. The ones in the Catholic church are more likely to say “thanks” for an answered prayer. A lot of these more modern votive offerings are little semi-precious metal bits like in the pictures above, but not all. In Mexico, they tend to use painted bits. There are loads that are military or maritime related. There is no need for these offering to be tiny either, whole statues or churches can fill the bill. Ever make a votive offering? How about light a votive candle? Think about it.

In case you find yourself wanting to make a votive offering for the healing of a body part, you can find these items still available for purchase...in Naples at least.