Select your language

fontanelle cemetery

  • Discover the Fontanelle Cemetery

     The Fontanelle cemetery in Naples can be discovered for free: the entrance is always free.
    The better way to visit the Fontanelle cemetery is with a guide.
    Mainly because if you visit alone you’ll see only skulls and bones: without any explanation you won't discover the history and curiosity around that special skulls, their story, their past.
    Secondly because is beautiful to share this tour with a neapolitan guide who love this place and in particular love the Sanità - Vergini district
    From various associations that offer a guide tour for discover the Fontanelle  Cemetery, we suggest Insolitaguida Napoli famous for its professionality and cordiality.
    The phone number to contact Insolitaguida Napoli and book a complete tour of Sanità-Vergini district and Fontanelle  cemetery in Naples is +39 338 965 22 88

     

  • How much is the entrance to the Fontanelle Cemetery

    Very often people are asking how much is the entrance to the Fontanelle Cemetery in Naples and we always answer that the entrance to the Fontanelle Cemetery is free: there is no ticket to pay!

    The Fontanelle Cemetery is opened for free!

    We will never tire of repeating.

    Even thought

    Although there are the usual sharks who are trying to turn it into a small possession; for now (and hopefully forever) the Fontanelle Cemetery has no tickets; therefore the cost of the ticket for entrance to the Fontanelle cemetery is zero Euros.

     

    If someone offers you the admission fee to the Fontanelle Cemetery do not be afraid to let us know: we will do everything possible so that the scammers are exposed!

     

     

  • Is possible to take pictures in Fontanelle Cemetery

    Everyone want to take pictures or make videos in Fontanelle Cemetery.

    Is possible to take pictures only without flash.

    There is no limitation about videos.

    These rules are for private use.

    If you want to make professional pictures or videos you must contact Comune di Napoli and ask an authorization

  • Opening times - Timetables of Fontanelle Cemetery

    Here the timetable with open days and closed days of Fontanelle Cemetery of Naples

     

    Sunday 10:00 AM - 5:00  PM
    Monday 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
    Tuesday 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
    Wednesday 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
    Thursday 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
    Friday 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
    Saturday 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

     

    The Fontanelle Cemetery of Naples is opened every day from Monday to Sunday.

    Last entrance 30 minutes before closing.

     

     

    Don' forget that the entrance to the Fontanelle Cemetery is free: there is no ticket fee.

    Beware of tour booking with ticket fee included in the price.

     

  • The history of Fontanelle Cemetery

    The Fontanelle cemetery in Naples is a charnel house, an ossuary, located in a cave in the tuff hillside in the Materdei section of the city. It is associated with a chapter in the folklore of the city. By the time the Spanish moved into the city in the early 16th century, there was already concern over where to locate cemeteries, and moves had been taken to locate graves outside of the city walls. Many Neapolitans, however, insisted on being interred in their local churches. To make space in the churches for the newly interred, undertakers started removing earlier remains outside the city to the cave, the future Fontanelle cemetery. The remains were interred shallowly and then joined in 1656 by thousands of anonymous corpses, victims of the great plague of that year.

    Sometime in the late 17th century—according to Andrea De Jorio, a Neapolitan scholar from the 19th century, great floods washed the remains out and into the streets, presenting a grisly spectacle. The anonymous remains were returned to the cave, at which point the cave became the unofficial final resting place for the indigent of the city in the succeeding years—a vast paupers' cemetery. It was codified officially as such in the early 19th century under the French rule of Naples. The last great "deposit" of the indigent dead seems to have been in the wake of the cholera epidemic of 1837.

    Then, in 1872, Father Gaetano Barbati had the chaotically buried skeletal remains disinterred and catalogued. They remained on the surface, stored in makeshift crypts, in boxes and on wooden racks. A spontaneous cult of devotion to the remains of these unnamed dead developed in Naples. Defenders of the cult pointed out that they were paying respect to those who had had none in life, who had been too poor even to have a proper burial. Devotees paid visits to the skulls, cleaned them—"adopted" them, in a way, even giving the skulls back their "living" names (revealed to their caretakers in dreams). An entire cult sprang up, devoted to caring for the skulls, talking to them, asking for favors, bringing them flowers, etc. A small church, Maria Santissima del Carmine, was built at the entrance.

    The cult of devotion to the skulls of the Fontanelle cemetery lasted into the mid-20th century. In 1969, Cardinal Ursi of Naples decided that such devotion had degenerated into fetishism and ordered the cemetery to be closed. It has recently undergone restoration as a historical site and may be visited.

  • We need to book the entrance to the Fontanelle Cemetery?

    Very often people asks if you must book to enter to the Fontanelle Cemetery of Naples.

    Is not possible to book the entrance to the Fontanelle Cemetery, even thought for big groups.

    So if someone ask money to make a reservation or book  the entrance of Fontanelle Cemetery, beware of them! 

     

  • When is open the Fontanelle’s cemetery?

    Orari di Apertura Cimitero delle Fontanelle

    The first question that everyone make is "When is opened the Fontanelle Cemetery?" or "What is the opening hours of Fontanelle Cemetery".

    Cimitero delle Fontanelle orari di apertura

    Here is the question about timetables of Fontanelle Cemetery.

    The Fontanelle Cemetery has the following timetable:

    Sunday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
    Monday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
    Tuesday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
    Wednesday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
    Thursday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
    Friday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
    Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

    Dont't forget that is the entrance is possible until 30 minutes before of closing time.

     

    The entrace to the Fontanelle Cemetery is totally free.

    Beware of guided tour with ticket fee for the Fontanelle Cemetery.

  • Where is the Fontenelle cemetery in Naples?

    The Fontanelle Cemeterery is located in via Fontanelle 80, Napoli - in Sanità district.c