Page 8 - Mediterraneo e dintorni - nr 7

THE UNDERBELLY OF NAPLES. THE following particular rituals. The first
UNDERGROUND CITY. Christian catacombs, including those of
the patron saint of Naples, San Genna-
aples, a city with a thousand faces, ro, and those of San Gaudioso inside the
Nan esoteric place full of legends and church of Santa Maria alla Sanità, were
ancestral myths, contains in its dark in- built in the folkloristic Sanità district.
terior a “parallel city”, a labyrinth of tun- The catacombs of San Gennaro developed
nels, cisterns, quarries and tunnels dug around a Roman tomb of III AD, from the
into the tuff from the Greek era and still deposition of the remains of Sant’Agrip-
today partly explored. Currently, it is pino, the sixth bishop of Naples, but be-
estimated that there are about two million came an important cult center following
square meters of underground tunnels, the translation of the remains of San
with 800 artificial cavities corresponding Gennaro. The catacombs of San Gaudio-
to a third of the city on the surface, but the so were named after the saint death in the
Il ventre di Napoli: cimitero Fontanelle
census is still ongoing and far from being 5th century AD, but it was in 1600 that
completed. The Greeks were the first to the nobles began to contend for a burial
use caves and natural caves dug into the within them.
tufa as primitive houses on their arrival Their bodies were brought into a hypogeal
on the coast of Campania, settling in the environment where they were placed on
ca nella collina di Capodimonte area of Pizzofalcone where they founded the so-called drains, to be punctured so as
al di fuori della cinta muraria, nel the colony of Partenope at the end of the to empty them of liquids. From this deri-
vallone della Sanità. A partire dal eighth century BC. The subsoil of Naples ves the Neapolitan term “schiattamuo-
1656, in seguito all’epidemia di is, however, also the site of obscure rituals, rto”, or the expression “puozze sculà”.
peste che decimò la popolazione such as that dedicated to “anime pezzen- After drying, the skull was embedded in
telle”, a place of border and connection
the wall, while the rest of the body was
napoletana, questo luogo venne between life and death, where silence cau- painted below with symbols that made
trasformato in un ossario comune, ses space to expand and time stop. One of the deceased recognizable. Moving to the
cui si andarono ad aggiungere se- the most evocative places in this sense is historic center, you can not miss a visit to
coli dopo le vittime del colera del undoubtedly the Fontanelle Cemetery, a the famous Naples Underground, one of
1837. Fu poi il parroco locale, don tuff quarry excavated in the Greek era in the oldest descents in the Naples subsoil
located in Piazza San Gaetano, which can
the Capodimonte hill outside the walls, in
Gaetano Barbati, a riordinare e ca- the Sanità valley. Starting from 1656, fol- be visited if you are ready to descend 140
talogare circa 40.000 resti umani lowing the plague epidemic that decima- steps to find yourself 40 meters below the
privi d’identità a fine Ottocento. ted the Neapolitan population, this place current plan of trampling. During the
Nacque così, in maniera molto was transformed into a common ossuary, journey of about two hours you will pass
spontanea, il napoletano culto dei which were added centuries after the vi- through the tunnels of the ancient Serino
morti praticato soprattutto dalle ctims of cholera of 1837. It was then the aqueduct dug into the tufa in the Augu-
stan period, provided with candles and
local parish priest, Don Gaetano Barbati ,
donne seguendo particolari ri- to rearrange and catalog about 40,000 hu- torches, and then visit the cavity used as a
tuali. Punto di partenza di questo man remains without identity at the end war shelter with objects and inscriptions
macabro rito era l’adozione del of the nineteenth century. The Neapolitan left by the Neapolitans there whole days
teschio da parte della devota, che cult of the dead was born in a very sponta- passed during the Second World War.
lo riconosceva il più delle volte in neous way, practiced above all by women At the end of the tour, we finally return

Cimitero Fontanelle

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