The treasure of San Gennaro is said to rival Britain's Crown Jewels and those of the Russian tsars in value.

 

The 70 pieces were transported under armed guard to a museum in Rome.

 

They include a bishop²'s mitre encrusted in stones, and a large necklace composed of thousands of gems³, donated by many crowned heads of Europe.

 

The jewels, statues and religious items such as golden chalices⁴（杯） were donated over several centuries to the patron saint of Naples, San Gennaro, or Januarius in English.

 

But for much of that time, the treasure of San Gennaro was kept away from the public eye in a vault⁵ in Naples cathedral.

 

Gennaro, the bishop of Naples, was martyred（杀害，折磨） in the third century.

 

He has been venerated⁶ down the centuries as the city's protector against war, the plague, earthquakes, shipwrecks⁷ and natural disasters, says the BBC's Rome correspondent, David Willey.

 

In the 1520s, when Naples was beset⁸ by disease, war and the frequent eruption⁹ of the nearby Mount Vesuvius, Neapolitans pledged to build a chapel¹⁰ to San Gennaro and safeguard the donated treasure, in return for the saint's protection.

 

"The city was on its last legs, but the people of Naples knew which saint to turn to, " said the exhibition's curator Paolo Jorio.

 

"They voted that, if Saint Januarius helped them, they would dedicate a new treasure chapel to him."

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