It is possible to visit the graveyard Mon-Fri, from 10.00 until 17.00.
The Fontanelle's Graveyard, or "Cimitero delle Fontanelle" is one of the oldest and most famous graveyards in Naples (80, Via Fontanelle). The name "Fontanelle" (tiny fountains) derives from the presence of an abundance of water sources in this part of the city. The cemetery bears 40000 remains of people who were victims of the plague of 1656 and of cholera in 1836. It is found in the western side of the natural valley of "Rione Sanità ", just outside the Greek-Roman town, in the place chosen for the pagan necropolis and later for the Christian graveyards.
The ancient charnel-house is about 3000m2-wide, while the dimensions of the cavities are estimated to be 30000m3-large. It is said that about 8 million bones of corpses were guarded inside the ossuary, some of which, after a sudden flood, were pulled in streets and that beneath the current planking level there are compressed bones for at least a 4m-depth level, ordered at that time in a precise way by specialized undertakers.
The main entrance to the cemetery
Details of donna Concetta's skull
Detail of an infected skull
Infected bones collected
Cemetery's nave
San Vincenzo Ferrer's sculture without the head
Cemetery's aisle
The bones chapel with in the middle the risen Christ (Cristo risorto)
- Photos by Ferdinando De Dona moc.liamg|anodedodnan#| (January 2014)
- Locate the item on this Google Map
Bibliography
- Rocco Civitelli, Il cimitero delle Fontanelle, Una storia napoletana, Libreria Dante & Descartes Napoli, 2012 pp. 10-17, 25-34