Them Dry Bones

Catacomb burial has been a part of life in Napoli since before the current era.  That's BC in non-politically correct historian speak.  The catacombs at San Gennaro were being used as a burial ground long before there was a San Gennaro.  Pagans tunneled into the solid volcanic rock above Napoli and in those tunnels they stored their dead.  The Christians just co-opted the ground once they were the religion of power.  The catacombs are still there, but all of the bones were removed under orders issued in the 19th century.  

We walked up the long hill out of the historic Centro, threading our way through clogged market streets and the usual bustle of Napoli street life.  After a long climb up to the Parco atop the hill, we dropped back down to the basilica of San Gennaro and smack into the start of a tour in English.  I love a good cemetery, just love the damn things.  Yeah, it may be a bit ghoulish, but I have found memories of graveyards across the globe.  Down we went, descending stairs along the outside of the outcropping of rock that San Gennaro is built on.   Further into the Rock, tunneled behind the catacombs is a modern wonder, the Italian Auto Strada, which alternates between tunnels and bridges to circumnavigate the hills of Napoli.

Delicious shivers of cold ran down my spine as we entered the catacombs.  A twenty degree (F) drop in temperature will do that.  Graves are carved out of the floor, the oldest burials, while the walls are pocked with carved niches, on atop another.   The graves were covered with terra cotta or marble slabs, most of which have long since disappeared.  The remains of mosaics and frescoes line the inside of the niches, depicting the families that were buried there.  It was fascinating to imagine all of these niches crammed with the long dead bones of the Neapolitans.  I admit to being disappointed when I learned that all of the bones had been removed, but I now know that I can go visit them anytime I want in the cemetery where they were all interred.  That must have been a hell of a moving party.  

The first level of the catacombs.  You can see the graves carved in the floor and the niches climbing up the walls.  

The relics of San Gennaro are stored here in this pit that served as his grave for centuries.  His sacred bones were moved to the Basilica over a hundred years ago.

The third level, spooky lighting and all.