CEMETERY OF THE FONTANELLE
Welcome to the Cemetery of the Fontanelle.
The tufa cave structure of the Cemetery.
Not a museum nor a church, the Cemetery of the Fontanelle is a unique treasure of Naples. Situated in the residential area between Sanita’ and Materdei (which is also the nearest metro) and not too far from the Archeological Museum, the Cemetery is hidden in a tufa cave stone used in the past as a burial site. In the late nineteenth century, the congregation of worshippers led by Gaetano Barbati started to order the many piles of the mortal remains of the dead bodies tortured by the cholera epidemic that had decimated the Neapolitan population in 1836.
The entrance.
The cemetery.
Skulls.
Today the Cemetery still preserves thousands of skulls and bones in a wide trapezoid shaped spaces in semidarkness and silence sometimes interrupted by flashes of lights coming from small windows. There are many stories and legends about all those remains without a name, some of the skulls are in a kept in a small glass case decorated with flowers, candles and gifts as ex-voto (see my blog about ex-voto here), for grace received or yet to be received.
Ex-voto, presents for the skulls in order to get a grazia (grace) or simply to remember an unfortunate story.
Tour groups in the Cemetery.
Directions to the Cemetery.
Official website: cimiterodellefontanelle.com
Via Fontanelle 80 - 80136 Napoli
Tel.: +39 081 1925 6964 / +39 3389652288
Email.: info@insolitaguida.it
Free entry.
You can book a tour guide at this number +39 338 965 22 88.
Opening hours: Mon.-Sun.: 10.00 - 17.00
Nearest metro station: Linea 1 - Materdei