There are places in Naples that tell the story of the city better than any museum, and the Fontanelle Cemetery is one of them. We stepped into its huge tuff caves in the Rione Sanità and found ourselves facing thousands of skulls lined up in the half-light. It is not as macabre as you might imagine: it is a place of memory, of popular piety and of stories handed down from generation to generation. Let us try to separate beliefs from truth.
From tuff quarry to ossuary
The cemetery is on via Fontanelle, at the far end of the valley of the Rione Sanità, a neighbourhood that grew up outside the ancient city walls. These enormous cavities were tuff quarries, where the stone used to build the city was extracted.
Their transformation into an ossuary is linked to the great health emergencies. During the plague of 1656, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, and later with the cholera of 1836, the remains of countless nameless victims were brought here, together with bones moved from burials in the city’s churches. The figure often quoted is around 40,000 remains, although the real number is not precisely known.
In 1872 the cemetery was entrusted to Canon Gaetano Barbati, who put the bones in order, arranging them by type, and fitted out the first cave as a church. This is largely how we still see it today.
The cult of the anime pezzentelle
From then on a very particular cult was born, that of the anime pezzentelle: the souls of the poor who died nameless, left in Purgatory with no one to pray for them. Neapolitans began to "adopt" a skull, a capuzzella: they cleaned it, placed it in a niche or a small case, brought it flowers and candles and recited prayers for the soul.
It was a relationship of exchange: the devotee eased the soul’s suffering, and the soul, once relieved, returned the favour with a grace. It often appeared in dreams, revealing its story or giving advice, and quite often the dreams turned into numbers to play in the lotto. It is the same world of beliefs you find in the hypogeum of Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco, in the historic centre.
The Captain, Donna Concetta and ’a capa ’e Pascale
Some skulls have become famous. The best known is that of the Captain, surrounded by several legends, some romantic and others tragic, almost all linked to weddings, jealousy and mysterious guests who turned up at the wedding. Everyone in the neighbourhood tells a slightly different version.
Then there is Donna Concetta, known as ’a capa che suda ("the sweating head"): her skull always looks shiny and damp, unlike the others covered in dust, and for devotees that sheen was the sign that the grace had been granted. The simplest explanation is the humidity of the caves, which condenses differently on different surfaces. Finally there is ’a capa ’e Pascale, the skull that tradition credited with the power to suggest winning numbers.
Bans, closures and the reopening
The cult was so widespread that it worried the Church. On 29 July 1969 a decree of the Curia of Naples banned the individual cult of the capuzzelle, allowing only a monthly Mass for the souls in Purgatory. The cemetery was closed and remained abandoned for a long time.
In the following years it went through reopenings and new closures: in 2010 it reopened after a peaceful occupation by local residents, only to close again a few years later. After safety works, it reopened to the public in spring 2026, thanks to an agreement between the City of Naples and a Rione Sanità organisation, with the support of private foundations. For us this is good news: the cemetery has once again become a place that belongs to the neighbourhood, and not just a curiosity for tourists.
How to get there and when to go
The cemetery is on via Fontanelle, in the Rione Sanità. You can walk there from piazza Cavour or from the Archaeological Museum, crossing the neighbourhood, or take the city buses that climb up through the area. At the moment visits require booking: check opening hours, tickets and access arrangements on the official website before you go. Remember that this is a place of burial and devotion, and behave accordingly.
Nearby
To fit the visit into your itinerary, start from our guide Naples and Surroundings. In the Rione Sanità you will also find The Catacombs of San Gaudioso and, a little further up, The Catacombs of San Gennaro. The neighbourhood’s streets are full of street art, which we describe in The murals of Naples, and if you are fascinated by underground places you can continue with Visiting Underground Naples.
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