A Visit to the Fontanelle Cemetary in the City of Naples in Italy This cemetary is also known as the “House of Bones” and may seem macabre at the beginning and one would understandingly ask why there are thousands of skulls and bones piled up in a cave in the middle of the city of Naples. Once one learns why it exists the way it is, it becomes a touching story of how the Neapolitans pay respect to lost souls who were never properly buried. Signs in the cave explain the story. In the year of 1656, a terrible plaugue eradicated about half of the population of Naples. The bodies were thrown in the common Charnel House without proper burial. Later in 1872 the bones were catalogued by Father Gaetano Barbati, and with help of the neighborhood women, they were rearranged and piled up in this final resting place. In the later years, the people of Naples developed a devotion to these skeletal remains and began to give them names, clean them and place small tokens such as flowers, jewelry, coins and prayer cards to help these abandoned souls find relief. Take the Metro subway number 1 and get of at the “Matadei” station. Go up at the “Montecassino” exit and from there you will see a brown sign that points you in the right direction. You will make a left turn and will walk down a long street through a residential area. Always follow the signs and when you do not see a sign, just stay straight. You will end up at steps that will look down towards this street in the image. Once at the bottom, go left and keep following this road “Via Fontanelle”. It is about a 10-12 minute walk from the subway station.     This colorful church is just before the cemetary. There is the brown sign at the right of the image.   The sign looks like this and this close up and is the entrance of the cemetary.   The entrance is free and several caves lead off from the main entrance. The bones are piled on all sides of the caves.   It is emotional and sad to see so many skulls at once. It must have been shocking for the Neapolitans when the skeletons were first discovered and in such a chaotic state.   This shows an example of how skeletons were adopted and given names on a small burial box. Many of the boxes were dated in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.   There are several fish market stands along the way.   Small tokens such as money, jewelry, prayer cards, rosaries, candles and other gifts are found all over the cemetary. These are given to the skeletons as small acts of kindness from the people of Naples.   This in an altar at the back of the cemetary cave.   This skull has been given the name “Il Capitano”. A sign there says that is a symbol for the people to maintain a correct distance to the alive and dead. That neither forgetfulness nor closeness are appropriate.       All text and photos found on this website are our own. Please be fair and give credit where credit is due.