Chiesa e Chiostro di San Gregorio Armeno

Lonely Planet review

There are churches and then there is the Chiesa e Chiostro di San Gregorio Armeno. Zealously run by a posse of snappy nuns, the recently-restored 16th-century church boasts a jaw-dropping baroque interior designed by Nicolò Tagliacozzi Canale. Highlights include sumptuous wood and papier-mâché choir stalls, a 17th-century marble altar by Dionisio Lazzarn and lavish frescoes by Paolo de Matteis and Luca Giordano.

Having fled Constantinople, the sisters set up this church, naming it after the Bishop of Armenia, San Gregorio, whose earthly remains they were carrying with them. More famously, though, they also kept the relics and dried blood of Santa Patrizia who, having escaped from Constantinople, died in Naples some time between the 4th and 8th centuries. Patricia's powdered blood is said to liquefy every Tuesday, unlike that of Naples' patron saint San Gennaro, who can only manage it three times a year.

The peaceful, citrus-filled cloisters are accessible by a gate on nearby Vico G Maffei.