The anime pezzentelle and the Fontanelle Cemetery

At the foot of the Materdei hill, in the Sanità district, a great cavity opens in the tuff. For centuries it was a stone quarry; then it became the place where Naples laid its nameless dead. The Fontanelle Cemetery still holds an impressive expanse of bones and skulls, lined up along natural naves tens of metres high. Here flourished one of the most singular popular cults in Europe, that of the anime pezzentelle, the poor and forgotten souls in Purgatory.

An ossuary born of epidemics

The quarry was used as a burial place above all after the great epidemics that struck the city. The plague of 1656, which killed a huge part of the Neapolitan population, and the cholera of 1836 filled the churches and the mass graves. Many remains were carried to the quarries outside the walls, including that of the Fontanelle, named after the ancient springs of the area. Bones removed from churches during urban works also ended up here.

In 1872 the priest Gaetano Barbati, with the help of women from the neighbourhood, set about arranging the bones, which were ordered in stacks and rows. From then on the cemetery took on the appearance we know today: an immense anonymous ossuary, in which each skull represents a person whose name no one remembers any more. Beside the stacks a few crosses, small chapels and sacred statues were placed, turning the quarry into a kind of underground church. The light that filters in from the entrance, barely enough to make out the shapes, still contributes to the hushed atmosphere of the place.

Adopting a skull

The cult of the anime pezzentelle arose from a deep conviction of popular piety: souls in Purgatory with no relatives to pray for them suffered longer. Neapolitans thus began to «adopt» a skull, which they called capuzzella. They cleaned it, placed it on a cushion or in a small case, and brought it flowers, candles and prayers. In return, according to the belief, the soul would grant protection and favours.

The bond was often formed through dreams. The soul appeared to the devotee, revealed its story and sometimes suggested numbers to play in the lottery. Some skulls became famous, such as that of the «Captain» or the so-called «sweating head», whose damp surface was interpreted as a sign that prayers had been answered. Small communities of devotees formed around these skulls.

The ban and the memory

In 1969 the Curia of Naples, led by Cardinal Corrado Ursi, ordered an end to the cult, judging it superstitious and far from doctrine. The cemetery was closed for a long time and devotion continued in a more discreet form. A similar cult was practised, and in part still is, in the hypogeum of the church of Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco, on Via dei Tribunali.

Today the Fontanelle is a place of visits and remembrance. The orderly rows of skulls tell the story of epidemics, of poverty and of a city that has never entirely separated the living from the dead. The daily relationship with anonymous souls remains one of the keys to understanding Neapolitan popular spirituality.