The Cemetery of Poggioreale is one of the major cemeteries in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is also known as Camposanto Nuovo, to distinguish it from Camposanto Vecchio, which is now known as Cemetery of the 366 Fossae. It is bordered by the Largo Santa Maria del Pianto, Via del Riposo, Via Santa Maria del Pianto, and via nuova

Poggioreale Poggioreale ( Sicilian: ''Poggiuriali'') is a ghost town and ''comune'' in the province of Trapani, western Sicily, southern Italy, located in the Belice The Belice, , is a river of western Sicily. It is about long. From its main source nea ...

, and is built upon the ruins of Alphonso II's

Villa Poggio Reale A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became sm ...

History

Until the 18th century most funeral monuments were located inside churches, closer to the divine air, and where they could either buy a generation of prayer, or at least be entombed within earshot of genuflecting masses, so as to be lifted into heaven by their overhead chants. As churches became crowded with tombs, this open air monumental cemetery allowed noble families to build private chapels and crypts in a slightly more secular location, on the southern side of the hill of

. The cemetery was begun during the Napoleonic occupation, and remodelled in 1836–1837. The layout is that of a garden. At the upper end is a Neoclassic church with a ''Pieta'' by

Gennaro Cali Januarius ( ; la, Ianuarius; Neapolitan and it, Gennaro), also known as , was Bishop of Benevento and is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later ...

, in its tribune; and behind a large oblong square, surrounded by a portico of fluted Doric columns, out of which open 102 proprietary chapels, beneath each of which are the family vaults of the owners. The colossal, nondenominational figure of ''Religion'' in the centre of the quadrangle is by

Tito Angelini Tito Angelini (1806–1878) was an Italian sculptor and leader of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, where he was born and died. Biography Fountain of the River Amenano in the Piazza del Duomo, Catania His father, Costanzo Angelini, born ...

. Most of the vaults are occupied by subscription to confraternities, or burial clubs.** Those who cannot afford to pay for their own graves are interred without coffins in another part of the grounds, as in the "Cemetery of the 366 Fossae"; but as the fee is small, not more than half-a-dozen bodies are deposited during the three days each pit remains open. At the southwest extremity is a space set aside for notable Neapolitans: a ''Quadrato degli uomini illustri'' (Quadrangle for illustrious men). Also adjacent are 19th-century Protestant and Jewish cemeteries of Naples.

Notable interments

Among those buried here are: *

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a lib ...

, philosopher and politician (tomb in the immediate vicinity of the entrance) *

Salvatore Di Giacomo Salvatore Di Giacomo (12 March 1860 – 5 April 1934) was an Italian poet, songwriter, playwright and fascist, one of the signatories to the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals. Di Giacomo is credited as being one of those responsible for r ...

, poet and writer *

Raffaele Viviani Raffaele Viviani (10 January 1888 in Castellammare di Stabia, Province of Naples – 22 March 1950) was an Italian author, playwright, actor and musician. Viviani belongs to the turn-of-the-century school of Literary realism, realism in Ita ...

, playwright *

Benedetto Cairoli Benedetto Cairoli (28 January 1825 – 8 August 1889) was an Italian politician. Biography Cairoli was born at Pavia, Lombardy. From 1848 until the completion of Italian unity in 1870, his whole activity was devoted to the ''Risorgimento'', as ...

politician * E. A. Mario, author *

Luigi Settembrini Luigi Settembrini (17 April 1813, Naples – 3 November 1877, Florence) was an Italian man of letters and politician. Biography Born in Naples, his paternal grandfather was an immigrant from Bollita (the actual Nova Siri), in the province of ...

writer and politician * Francesco De Sanctis, writer and politician *

Vincenzo Gemito Vincenzo Gemito (July 16, 1852 – March 1, 1929) was an Italian sculptor and artist. Although he worked in various studios of well-known artists in his native Naples, Rome and Paris, he is considered to have largely been self-taught, the reason ...

, sculptor *

Giovanni Amendola Giovanni Amendola (15 April 1882 – 7 April 1926) was an Italian journalist, professor and politician, noted as an opponent of Italian Fascism. Biography Early life and education Amendola was born in Naples on 15 April 1882. He moved to Rome, ...

, politician *

Nicola Antonio Zingarelli Nicola may refer to: People * Nicola (name), including a list of people with the given name or, less commonly, the surname **Nicola (artist) or Nicoleta Alexandru, singer who represented Romania at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest * Nicola people, ...

, musician *

Saverio Mercadante Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 179517 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond ...

, musician * Luigi Giura, engineer of

Bridge Real Ferdinando sul Garigliano The catenary suspension bridge of Real Ferdinando or the Ferdinandeo Bridge over the River Garigliano was the first iron catenary suspension bridge built in Italy, and one of the earliest in continental Europe. This bridge, which was technologicall ...

Sigismund Thalberg Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was an Austrian composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. Family He was born in Pâquis near Geneva on 8 January 1812. According to his own account, he ...

, musician *

, sculptor *

Luca Botta Luca Botta (16 April 1882 – 29 September 1917) was an Italian operatic tenor. Biography He was born in Amalfi, Italy on 16 April 1882. He studied singing at the Naples Conservatory before making his operatic debut as Alfredo in ''La travia ...

, operatic tenor *

Stefano Gasse Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ach ...

, architect * Antonio Niccolini, Tuscan architect who completed the facade of the

Teatro San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent t ...

. *

Ferdinando Russo Ferdinando Russo (November 25, 1866 – January 30, 1927) was a prominent Neapolitan journalist primarily remembered as a dialect poet and composer of song lyrics. Biography Ferdinando Russo was born on November 25, 1866 in Naples,

, poet and writer *

Libero Bovio Libero Bovio (9 June 1883 – 26 May 1942) was a Neapolitan lyricist and dialect poet. Bovio was one of those responsible for the rejuvenation of Neapolitan dialect in plays, poetry and song at the beginning of the twentieth century. He took o ...

, poet *

Ernesto Capocci Ernesto Capocci Belmonte (Picinisco, 31 March 1798 – Naples, 6 January 1864) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and politician. From 1815 he was a pupil at the Astronomical Observatory of Naples directed by his uncle Federigo Zuccari ...

, astronomer and politician *

Annibale de Gasparis Annibale de Gasparis (9 November 1819, Bugnara – 21 March 1892, Naples; ) was an Italian astronomer, known for discovering asteroids and his contributions to theoretical astronomy. Biography De Gasparis was born in 1819 in Bugnara to Ang ...

, astronomer and politician

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poggioreale Cemetery, Naples Cemeteries in Naples Burial monuments and structures 1836 establishments in Italy