Are you wondering what to see in Naples and would you like to explore the city’s most characterful corners? Have you ever heard of the Rione Sanità?
This part of Naples is one of the least known and lies well off the usual tourist routes, yet it hides works of incredible value and sights that will leave you speechless.
So why does no one talk about it?
Among the things to see in Naples, the Rione Sanità was for a long time the victim of prejudice, because it was considered one of the most dangerous districts in the city. Today, though, thanks to the efforts of those who live here, the district attracts more and more visitors, both Italian and foreign.
Want to know what there is to see?
Winding through this neighbourhood is a wonderful route called the Miglio Sacro (the “Sacred Mile”), which conceals beauty I would never have expected and reveals an important slice of the history of Naples and its people.
One of the things that truly left me speechless is the gigantic Fontanelle cemetery. Beyond its sheer size, it strikes you for its story, because it is here that the deep devotion of the Neapolitans blends with the city’s typical folklore.
But I don’t want to give too much away: I’ll tell you all about it in one of the sections below.
In short, if you want to know what to see in Naples beyond the historic centre, let me tell you about my walk along the Miglio Sacro. I’m sure it will make you want to discover this district for yourself.
Let’s go!
The Rione Sanità of Naples: a bit of history
It may sound strange, but in past centuries the Rione Sanità of Naples was one of the wealthiest areas of the city, as well as the place where Neapolitans came to ask for graces and miracles.
But why here of all places?
The Rione Sanità is where the body of San Gennaro (Saint Januarius) once rested, but it was also a district you passed through: the king would cross it with his court along the road that led to the royal palace of Capodimonte, and here the nobles had their splendid palaces.
Unfortunately the district, all climbs and descents, was built in a valley: and this was precisely its greatest misfortune.
Why?
The decline of the Rione Sanità began in the early nineteenth century, under French rule, when a colossal bridge was built to improve access to Capodimonte. That elevated road, which literally cuts through the neighbourhood and its buildings, set off a slow and inexorable decline.
The bridge turned this area from a district you passed through into a place little travelled. Cut off from the rest of Naples, in recent decades it became the scene of episodes of crime that earned it the sad reputation of one of the most dangerous places in Naples.
And today?
Fortunately things are changing thanks to the effort and the work of its inhabitants. And it is precisely thanks to them that the district’s treasures are receiving more and more attention, becoming one of the things to see in Naples: treasures of great historical, artistic and anthropological value are hidden here.
Want to know what the Miglio Sacro of Naples is?
Let me explain!
1 – The Miglio Sacro of Naples: what it is and why it matters
The Miglio Sacro of Naples is a route that runs through the Rione Sanità and, in its various stops, lets you discover unique aspects of Neapolitan culture.
Among the things to see in Naples it matters because it is part of a much wider project for the rebirth of the district. It includes extraordinary sites such as the Catacombs of San Gennaro and of San Gaudioso, the Fontanelle cemetery, and beautiful churches like Santa Maria della Sanità, San Severo fuori le mura and San Gennaro fuori le mura.
In the Rione Sanità you can enjoy a real tour of Naples among historic palaces, characterful workshops and some of the finest murals in the city.
2 – The Catacombs of San Gennaro in Naples
You may not have known it, but beneath the Rione Sanità of Naples lies a dense network of galleries dug into the tufa. As a Roman I know the catacombs of the capital well, and I never expected to find something so astonishing in Naples too.
In antiquity this area was used as a cemetery, and we have evidence of it starting with the Catacombs of San Gennaro. Compared with other catacombs you may have visited, what stuns you here is the sheer scale: not a cramped place, but a genuine great underground basilica from which countless galleries branch off.
It almost feels like being in a city beneath the city!
The burials here are countless. Among the most important are the remains of the city’s first patron saint, Sant’Agrippino, buried here in the third century. The remains of San Gennaro, on the other hand, arrived only in the fifth century (before being moved centuries later to the Cathedral).
But why all this devotion for an underground place?
The reason goes back to an ancient belief: being close to the relics of the saints was considered a privilege, because it was thought that the closer the deceased rested to a saint, the faster their “climb” towards Paradise would be.
For this reason countless tombs were dug, decorated with beautiful frescoes and mosaics. Particularly fine are the mosaic portraits of the first bishops of Naples, among them the African Quodvultdeus, one of the few who escaped the Vandal persecutions.
And it is right here that you’ll find the oldest known portrait of San Gennaro.
In short, the Catacombs of San Gennaro are an essential stop for truly understanding the history and culture of this city. They can only be visited with a guide, and that’s a good thing: it is the guide who helps you understand what you’re looking at. If you like, you can book the guided tour here: the ticket supports the project that is bringing the district back to life.
3 – The basilica of San Gennaro fuori le mura
At the end of the Catacombs of San Gennaro stands an early-Christian church of the fifth century, later heavily reworked: it is San Gennaro fuori le mura, the ancient basilica attached to the catacombs that once held the saint’s tomb.
Over the centuries the building was first transformed into medieval and then Baroque forms. Fortunately, in the twentieth century it was decided to bring it back to its original “simplicity”, removing the later additions.
What is there to see?
From the original layout the fine columns of the apse and the basilical structure survive, while the entrance atrium is decorated with sixteenth-century frescoes by Andrea Sabatini, depicting stories from the life of San Gennaro.
Next to the church a Benedictine monastery was founded (eighth century), later converted into a hospital for plague victims (fifteenth century) and finally into a hospital for the poor (seventeenth century), still in existence today.
4 – The Fontanelle cemetery, where devotion meets folklore
One of the most striking places on the Miglio Sacro is the Fontanelle cemetery, an ancient tufa quarry of colossal proportions that holds around 40,000 remains of Neapolitans.
If you’ve never been, I promise it will leave you dumbstruck.
Why is it so huge?
The remains from the city’s ossuaries were piled up here to make room for the victims of the great epidemics, such as the plague of 1656 and the cholera of 1836. In the nineteenth century the bones were then arranged in order, and ever since this enormous ossuary has become one of the most characteristic places of worship in Naples.
And it was here that I discovered one of the oldest and “strangest” traditions in the city!
Want to know what it is?
The guide explained to me that Neapolitan families used to “adopt” a skull, called a capuzzella, to whom they would ask for protection and graces in exchange for prayers. These were the so-called anime pezzentelle (“poor souls”): anonymous skulls which, when they granted a miracle, were placed in a small shrine, adorned with gifts and dedications. Sometimes the emotional power of it was so strong that people even dreamed of the person the skull had belonged to.
A cult so deeply rooted and popular that in 1969 the Church went so far as to officially ban it, considering it an almost pagan form of faith.
5 – Reflections on the Fontanelle cemetery
The reflections that arise in a place like this are endless. The first thing that came to my mind was Totò’s famous poem ‘A livella, and Totò, by the way, was born right here, in the Rione Sanità.
Here the remains of people of every era rest together, all heaped up, all equal: rich or poor, powerful or unknown, it makes no difference; the Fontanelle cemetery was the final home of them all.
I also found the shrines of the skulls said to have granted graces very moving: some carry spelling mistakes that make them even more peculiar, others special dedications that tell the story of those who cared for them.
In my opinion the Fontanelle cemetery is not only an incredibly evocative place, but also essential for understanding the life and customs of the people of Naples.
6 – The basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità
The basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità stands right at the heart of the district and of the Miglio Sacro.
It is an imposing Baroque building, constructed between 1602 and 1610 by the Dominican architect Fra Nuvolo, and recognisable throughout the city for its dome clad in yellow and green majolica, visible the moment you cross the Sanità bridge.
The church came into being almost by chance, thanks to the discovery of an ancient image of the Madonna and Child in a spot that lay above the catacombs of San Gaudioso. That “miraculous” event prompted the friars to build the church and to acquire the relics of thirteen saints, causing the number of the faithful to grow enormously.
What does it hold today?
In front of the altar you’ll find a superb “forceps” staircase in polychrome marble, framing the entrance to the crypt. Inside there are interesting seventeenth-century paintings, including works by Luca Giordano and Andrea Vaccaro. The most venerated statue is that of San Vincenzo Ferreri, known as ‘o Munacone, the district’s patron saint.
To the left of the façade is the entrance to the old cloister, today cut in two by the Napoleonic bridge (the one I told you about earlier, remember?).
And there’s more: right next to the crypt opens the entrance to the Catacombs of San Gaudioso.
Let me tell you about them now!
7 – The Catacombs of San Gaudioso in Naples
The Catacombs of San Gaudioso lie right beneath the basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità and are included in the Miglio Sacro tour. They are smaller and narrower than those of San Gennaro, but not so much as to give you a fit of claustrophobia.
The oldest part dates back to the fifth century, when San Gaudioso (an African bishop who came to Naples) was buried here. They were then abandoned after the saint’s body was moved, and taken up again only in the seventeenth century, when the Dominican friars built new and altogether peculiar resting places for the dead.
Here’s something that shocked me!
At the time, in Naples, the desiccation of corpses was in use: a practice that involved a long period in which the body of the deceased was slowly drained of its fluids. The constant temperature of the tufa halted decomposition and allowed the tissues to be preserved, a sort of mummification, which could last up to a year.
Want to know how it worked?
Let me explain!
8 – The Catacombs of San Gaudioso: macabre Baroque tales
Beneath the Catacombs of San Gaudioso is the place where the bodies were “treated” before burial.
The dead were laid on seats carved into the tufa, the scolatoi (drainers), of different sizes according to build. There was a person tasked with supervising the process, the schiattamuorto, who pierced the corpses to let the fluids out and prevent decay.
It’s interesting to know that, even today, one of the typical insults in the Neapolitan dialect is:
“che tu pozza sculà”
that is, “may you drain away”, may you die.
Once “drained”, the dead were buried and the tomb sealed: the head was walled up in view and, below it, the body was painted in the deceased’s clothes. Imagine the impression they must have made!
Here too funerary art intertwines with folklore and the history of customs. The next time you complain about your job, think of the schiattamuorto, shut in the catacombs among the fluids of the corpses and the stench of death… dreadful!
9 – Two more churches not to be missed
Along the Miglio Sacro there are two other buildings that deserve attention.
The first is the church of Santa Maria dei Vergini, so called for its link with the ancient college of the Eunostidi, young men devoted to chastity in Greek Neapolis.
The second is San Severo fuori le mura, a Baroque church that conceals more than one treasure: the oratory of the confraternity of the Bianchi, with precious stuccoes and paintings, and ancient catacombs not yet open to the public.
10 – Street art in the Rione Sanità
Strolling along the Miglio Sacro you’ll notice the brightly coloured murals decorating the buildings.
Are you a street-art enthusiast? Then this is the right place!
It was the very young people who run the catacombs who called artists from all over the world to decorate the district, which today is a genuine open-air street-art gallery.
Among the finest works I recommend you look for Luce by Tonio Cruz, in front of Santa Maria della Sanità, which portrays the children of the district; Resis-ti-amo by Francisco Bosoletti, dedicated to the “femininity” of the neighbourhood; and Speranza nascosta (“Hidden Hope”), which shows the worn face of a homeless man in negative, as if it needed a different gaze to be read (it’s no coincidence that it stands next to a shelter for the homeless).
Crossing the district you’ll also find the great mural covering the church beside the Fontanelle cemetery and the totem in front of San Severo. All works that show how these world-famous artists see the neighbourhood: as beautiful as it is full of contradictions.
Useful information about the Miglio Sacro of Naples
The whole route of the Miglio Sacro is the fruit of years of patient work by the cooperative La Paranza, founded in 2006, which since 2009 has managed the catacombs of Naples. It is not just a cooperative but a project that is bringing the district back to life, drawing tourism and restoring the neighbourhood’s dignity.
- Catacombs of San Gennaro: they can only be visited on a guided tour (departures on the hour, lasting about an hour). The ticket is around €8 (€5 reduced for under-25s, over-65s and students); the same ticket also includes the Catacombs of San Gaudioso and is valid for one year. Entrance at Via Capodimonte 13, next to the Basilica del Buon Consiglio.
- How to get there: from the centre you can go up to Capodimonte by bus, or reach the district on foot from the historic centre. Always check up-to-date times and prices on the official website before you go.
- Where to eat: the district is also a gastronomic gem. It’s impossible not to mention the Poppella pastry shop, famous for its fiocco di neve, and Ciro Oliva’s pizzeria, one of the most loved in the city.
If you enjoyed this Naples away from the usual routes, I recommend rounding off your trip with the National Archaeological Museum, with the stories of courage from the district and, just outside the city, with the Royal Palace of Caserta.
And you, what intrigues you most about the Rione Sanità: the Catacombs of San Gennaro, the Fontanelle cemetery or its murals?
