Old cemetery at the place called the "little fountain" for the presence of streams of water from the surrounding hills. After the plague of 1656, the cave has become a charnel house. Fallen into disuse, in 1872 was entrusted to Gaetano Barbati represented in a plaster statue in the cemetery, frequented only on Monday, the day of the Moon, identified with the dead. The bones are exposed to type long compartments, protected by wooden balusters; before the last action of accommodation, the bones are kept in balance due to a calcification process that united and made stable. In these caves were transported, for three centuries, human remains anonymous from the churches of this city and recognized by the people as the poor souls condemned to live in purgatory. Many skulls are kept in little emples made with the hope that the soul of the deceased can help in life - with prayers, candles-care. A decree of the Ecclesiastical Court forbade 26/07/1969 devotion who the human remains because they are deemed contrary to Catholic doctrine of Vatican II: remains respect to this particular cemetery, because in each femur, ribs, skull, there is the memory of our ancestors.

Fontanelle Historical Cemetery
Via Fontanelle, 80

Napoli Servizi tel. 081 19703197 - 349 1520638
Closed on Wednesdays
Open: Thu to Tue
Hours 10.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.
Free entrance, no reservation needed