Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta

Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta was built by Cosimo Fanzago. The adjacent Cappella Pontano, is a chapel commissioned during the Renaissance and based on a pagan temple design.

The Naples Underground:  While wandering Via Tribunali, I came to this church named after a holy stone (pietrasanta).  Built over the ruins of an early Christian basilica, I spotted a young spelunker going inside and asked if I could speak with the custodian about the history of the Church.  Instead, she briskly told me to follow and suddenly I was walking down steep steps into the belly of the church.

There, stones lay scattered everywhere and researchers bustled through an airy space.  Excited, I forgot about the Church history entirely and asked about the history of this space.  An enthusiastic researcher introduced himself as Rafaele Iovine and immediately gave me a tour.

He explained that the Church of Pietrasanta is the most ancient church in Naples, built in 566 A.D. by Bishop Pomponio.  It was constructed over a Roman villa, which in turn was constructed over the Greek foundations of Neapolis.  Rafaele took me over to an enclosed area where he showed me the slanted Roman bricks and the Greek walls underneath.

Most amazing of all, this space has a massive Greco-Roman aqueduct dating back to 500 B.C.  The aqueduct is 3 kilometers long and begins with this 400 meter deep water tank (cistern).

This underground area isn't officially open to the public, so needless to say, my private tour was divine.  Rafaele, however, did say that anyone interested in Naples' Parallel City can go to La Macchina Del Tempo where you can find lots of current information as well as upcoming events and lectures regarding the underground world.

The campanile of the church belonged to the older basilica dating from the 10-11th centuries and is the sole surviving example of early medieval architecture in Naples.

Well -- that's it for my Naples Underground.  Hope you've enjoyed the tour.  To see the list of places I've covered, you can visit my Table of Contents.

Two extra notes on The Parallel City:  I was unable to visit the Cimitero delle Fontanelle.  They remain closed indefinitely, including during the May of Monuments.  I did, however, trek over to the entrance and found that the road going there is narrow, windy, and like plunging into the darkest depths of the city.  (The cemetery is located in the Sanita district, known for its seediness.)

Second, guidebooks say you can visit the San Severo catacombs -- you can't.  The San Severo Church is located several blocks away from the San Guadioso Catacombs.  There is indeed a small catacomb, but it hasn't been maintained.  The custodian at first told me that there was nothing to see and that they are always closed.  Upon prodding, he let me in to see a dilapidated fresco with planks and dirt.  I also had to do some crouching maneuver to get inside.  I wouldn't recommend this site, even though it's listed in guidebooks, such as Lonely Planet.

Getting There:  Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta is along  Via Tribunali next to Piazza Miraglia.

The Roman Cistern

The Underground Tour: Piscina Mirabilis is the largest Roman Cistern still in existence today. Divided into five longitudinal sections supported by pillars, the Romans collected water brought by an aqueduct from the River Serino. Scholars disagree about who used this water tank. The cistern may have supplied water to the navy fleet stationed at Miseno about one kilometer away (See Misenum) or it might have provided water to nearby villas.

In order to visit, you must first call a number and make a reservation. Then go to the cistern at the appointed hour, walk down a nearby block, and ask the locals how to get in. They will point. Follow the fingers until you reach an apartment complex where a woman comes out with her toddler – and a key in hand.

The woman walks with you to the cistern and opens the doors. She refuses to go inside. Instead, she waits at the top while visitors explore by themselves, trekking down steep metal steps and into a mossy cavern.

Constructed during the Augustan period, the cistern measures 70 meters long, 25.5 meters wide, and 15 meters tall. Dug into the tufo, it has two entrances. The first is by way of metal stairs. The second is on the opposite end, but the tufo stairs currently only lead to dirt. The middle nave lies one meter below the rest of the structure and served as a decantation pool for periodic cleansing and emptying of the cistern. The walls of the cistern were once covered with a thick layer of waterproof cocciopesto (signinum). The water capacity could reach 12,600 cubic meters and the Romans created hydraulic machines on the roof terrace that pumped the water.

Twelve small rooms covered by barrel vaults were added to the cistern in the 1st through 2nd century A.D. in order to increase the power of the hydraulic system. These rooms can still be seen along the outside wall of the cistern.

Visiting these ruins, one wonders if they only tell a smidgeon of the tale – if Roman technology was this advanced, did they perhaps have even better developed technologies than we do today, but their knowledge is lost to time?

Getting There: Via Piscina Mirabile, Bacoli Call to make reservations at: 39 081 5233199