Visit the Fontanelle cementery in Naples

In the Naples’ Sanità district there is a place full of magic and legends, an ancient charnel house known as the Fontanelle cemetery, where Neapolitan people used to perform the rito delle anime pezzentelle (poor souls ritual) . 

The Fontanelle cemetery is in via Fontanelle 80, in the Sanità district. To reach it take the line 1 underground train and get off at the Materdei station, then walk along via Bartolomeo Facio. At the end of the street go beyond three staircases, then turn left and after 200 metres you will be at the cemetery. 

The entrance to the Fontanelle cemetery is in a hole inside the Maria Santissima del Carmine Church. 

The ancient Fontanelle charnel house is dug in the tuff of the Materdei hill. It consists of three big galleries; along the galleries, on both sides, there are rows of skulls and bones. 

Each gallery has a name: navata dei preti (priests nave), navata degli appestati (plague victims nave) and navata dei “pezzentielli” (poor souls nave). The galleries keep about 40.000 remains of people who died because of plague or cholera. 

In the navata dei preti there is a chapel dedicated to canon Barbati, the first man to take care of the remains, and the beheaded statue of Vincenzo Ferrer also known as the “monacone” (great monk). In the navata degli appestati there is a collection of bones with the Sacro Cuore di Gesù (Jesus Sacred Heart) at its centre.

The skulls kept in the cimitero delle Fontanelle are known as the “capuzzelle”, that is “small heads” in local dialect. Two very famous capuzzelle are those belonging to “il Capitano” (the Commander) and Donna Concetta; the latter is also known as “‘a capa che suda” (the sweating head) as the skull is always shiny. 

During the terrible post second World War period, Neapolitan people begun performing a kind of ritual known as the culto delle anime pezzentelle (the cult of the poor souls), that is the poor tormented souls of those who could not be buried. 

Each person could choose a capuzzella (small head) that had to be cleaned and polished. Then, a rosary was placed under the skull, around the imaginary neck. It was eventually placed on an embroidered handkerchief surrounded by flowers and candles. After that, the dead person used to appear in a dream to the one who adopted his/her capuzzella asking to pray for his/her soul and offering, as a reward, a favor or some lucky lottery numbers. If the reward was successful, the skull would have been buried properly, in a box or a shrine, so that the pour soul could find some peace. 

The naves of the cimitero delle Fontanelle are high and wide so you won’t feel oppressed.

But still it is a closed underground path so those who suffer from claustrophobia may feel anxious.