Alfonso the Magnanimous Enters Naples

1442

The Aragonese king formally entered Naples under a triumphal arch designed by Renaissance architects. The arch still stands, a marble monument to a Catalan king's Italianization. Alfonso's court became a center of Latin and Greek learning, hosting Lorenzo Valla who would soon prove the Donation of Constantine a forgery. His patronage made Naples a Renaissance center rivaling Florence, though the cultural flowering would not survive his dynasty.