The Mater Dei district houses one of the city's jewels of the city, the Fontanelle Cemetery, which was carved out of a natural tufa cave just outside the walls of the Greco-Roman city.
The cave was used as a cemetery when in 1656 a severe plague raged in the city making numerous victims, and the bodies continued to be stored during other epidemics during the following centuries.
During the last century the bones preserved here have been the subject of a widespread rite among the Neapolitan people, that of the "pezzentelle souls" (poor souls). People adopted a skull of which they did not know the story and took care of it, hoping that this could help him with graces and intercessions and that, in a dream, reveal his story to him.
The guide will tell you in detail this tradition and why the Neapolitan people is so fond of this place, as well as the legends that hide behind some of the skulls preserved here.
The Sanità district offers much more with its baroque churches and buildings.
