The Catacombs of Saint Gaudiosus are underground paleo-Christian burial sites (4th–5th century AD), located in the northern area of the city of

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 ...

(now Stella district).

History

The catacombs were probably occupied on a pre-existing Greek-Roman necropolis in the district known nowadays as

Rione Sanità Rione Sanità (literally "Health Neighbourhood" in Italian) is a neighbourhood in Naples, part of the Stella quarter. It is located north of Naples' historical centre, adjacent to the Capodimonte hill. History What is now Rione Sanità was a bur ...

, that was uninhabited at that time. According to tradition, it was the burial site of St Gaudiosus, a bishop arrived in Naples from

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, due to a shipwreck. His burial took place between 451 and 453 and the place, although was already the tomb of another bishop, St Nostriano, became an object of veneration. The entire area of Rione Sanità was uninhabited throughout the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

because of the numerous mudslides from the hill of Capodimonte which buried the area. The urbanisation of Rione Sanità began only around the sixteenth century and the catacombs returned to their original burial function. During the seventeenth century, with the construction of the basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità just above the ancient church or chapel of St Gaudioso, the underground cemetery was "modernized" with profound changes in its original structure and the destruction of some of it. After the outbreak of plague in 1656, the vast limestone caves in the valley became a huge open-air graveyard, and in the early 19th-century at the time of

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

, numerous bones from the "mummification rooms" were moved as well as later to make space for victims of other epidemics, such as cholera of 1836. Nowadays, only a small portion remains of the original catacombs.

Description

Access to the catacombs is in the crypt, under the raised presbytery of the church of Santa Maria della Sanità. Her depiction is represented in a faint paleochristian fresco detached by a wall of the old church, due to a mud slide. The icon of the Lady of Health ( Santa Maria della Sanità) venerated since the 5th – 6th century, is the most ancient Marian icon in Naples, is now kept in the first right side chapel of the basilica. Many inhabitants of the neighborhood, however, believe that the church is dedicated to St. Vincent Ferrer, because of the popular devotion to this holy Dominican and of the beautiful wooden statue of him, placed at the left of the altar. The crypt, once a long corridor catacomb, clearly contains on the vault and on the walls, visible frescoes by Bernardino Fera representing stories of martyrs. The arcosolium, placed at the entrance, guards the Tomb of San Gaudioso, with a sixth-century mosaic decoration. In the various cubicles that open along the arms of the catacombs, were located 5th – 6th century frescoes (St. Peter, among others, and San Sossio, deacon of

Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα ...

) and a mosaic dating before the late 5th century. The tufa sculpture of the dead Christ to the left of the entrance dates back at the end of the 17th century. The 17th century was for the catacombs a new period of use, especially by the Dominican friars. In this era it was, in fact, still widespread the use of the drainers: stone cavities in which corpse were leaned into a fetal position, to make them lose the fluids. The Dominican friars thought that the head was the most important part of the body as the seat of thoughts; that way, after drying, the heads were preserved, while the rest of the body was amassed in the charnel house. During this period was also exercised a macabre practice to take the heads of the now dried corpses and lock them in the walls and painting below a body that would give some indication of the profession of the deceased. This type of burial was reserved for the wealthy classes and was later abandoned due to hygienic reasons. Among those who received such burials were: * ''Donna'' Sveva Gesualda (1611) – princess of Montesarchio, mother of Maria d'Avalos * ''Lady'' Caraccia della Cerenzia (1618) * Marco Antonio d'Aponte (also spelled ''de Ponte'') (1624) – marquis of Sant'Angelo, president/judge of the Royal Council, member of the

Council of Italy The Council of Italy, officially, the Royal and Supreme Council of Italy ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de Italia, it, Reale e Supremo Consiglio d'Italia) was a ruling body and key part of the government of the Spanish Empire in Europe, second o ...

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(~1630) – painter * Diego Longobardo (1632) – magistrate * Alessandro d'Afflitto (1635) * ''Captain'' Scipione Brancaccio – baron of

Alfano Alfano is a village and small ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. As of December 31, 2012, the comune had a population of 1082. History There is little reliable evidence on the ancient history of A ...

, Spanish army officer; fought at the

Battle of White Mountain The Battle of White Mountain ( cz, Bitva na Bílé hoře; german: Schlacht am Weißen Berg) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the n ...

* Maria de Ponte – noblewoman File:Catacombe di San Gaudioso (Napoli) 10.jpg, Sveva Gesualda, 1611 File:Catacombe di San Gaudioso (Napoli) 08.jpg, Unknown woman (left) and Caraccia della Cerenzia, 1618 (right) File:Catacombe di San Gaudioso (Napoli) 09.jpg, Marco Antonio d'Aponte, 1624, (left) and Scipione Brancaccio (right) The burial practice was banned in 1637 due to concerns over the condition of the catacombs.

Curiosities

The dead were buried in small openings in the walls, but now only the skulls survived, due to the fact that the surface had been deteriorated by the humidity. Most of that skullcaps are smaller than modern human ones, maybe because of the different nutrition and the healthier way of life. The Neapolitan actor Antonio De Curtis, known as Totò, was a native of the Rione Sanità and he was used to frequent its catacombs, where there is a fresco representing the victory of Death. This image has probably inspired Toto's poem “A’ livella”. By the late twentieth century, the Dominican cloister adjacent to the Basilica, had become an inn that sponsors visits to the catacombs of San Gaudioso and San Gennaro. To see even the part illuminated not by the lights, during the visit, it is advisable to bring a flashlight.

References

Bibliography

* (2001). ''Guida d'Italia, Napoli e dintorni.'' Milano: Touring Club Italiano, (6ª ed.). * Avilio, Carlo (2009). "La catacomba di San Gaudioso. Le radici sotterranee della cristianità disegnano nuove prospettive per il quartiere della Sanità", in Varriale Roberta (curated by), ''I sottosuoli napoletani'', pp. 91–101. .

External links