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Piazza Cavour And Sanità
To the left of the archeological museum as you come out, Piazza Cavour is a busy traffic junction and bus stop. A short achievement east, at 223 Via Foria, lies the Orto Botanico (Mon-Fri 9am-2pm, by appointment only; tel 081.449.759), founded in 1807 by Joseph Bonaparte and a detour worth making if you’re interested in such things. Perhaps more intriguing is the enormously long facade, actually only one fifth of the originally conceived size, of the Albergo dei Poveri alongside, a workhouse built in 1751 that has been empty for years and forms a vast, oddly derelict landmark along the top side of Piazza Carlo III . North of Piazza Cavour, you can stroll up through the old quarter of SANITÀ , following the tangle of streets for ten minutes or so up to the church of Santa Maria della Sanità on the piazza of the same name, a Dominican church from the primeval seventeenth century whose design was based loosely on Bramante’s for Saint Peter’s in Rome. There are paintings by Giordano and other Neapolitan artists inside, if you can get in, although perhaps of more interest are the Catacombe di San Gaudioso (guided tours in the mornings, afternoons by appointment only tel 081.544.1305; L5000/¬2.58) underneath, an intriguing early-Christian burial ground full of skeletons and the fifth-century tomb of St Gaudioso, who was known, apparently, as the “African”, due to the fact that he was a fifth-century bishop from North Africa.
Lifts link Sanità with Corso Amedeo up above, the main road up to Capodimonte. Walk under the bridge through to the rest of the teeming district, home to a couple of the city centre’s larger hospitals and, close by one of them, another burial place, the Catacombe di San Gennaro (daily tours at 9.30am, 10.15am, 11am & 11.45am; L5000/¬2.58), behind the huge Madre del Buon Consiglio church. These were discovered only recently, next to the originally eighth-century church of San Gennaro in Moenia, and hold primeval Christian frescoes and mosaics, newly restored and amazingly bright. Continuing the death theme is the Cimitero della Fontanelle (open last Sat of the month; free), prefabricated up of caverns containing the bones and skulls of - so it’s said - plague victims, some of which have been “adopted” by visitors over the years in a weird kind of ex-voto cult. The cemetery is a good ten-minute achievement from the bridge over Corso Amedeo, following Via della Sanità at first, then Via Fontanelle to its end; or bus #105 goes right there from Via Duomo.
Tags: albergo dei poveri, archeological museum, burial ground, burial place, catacombe di san gennaro, christian burial, derelict, dominican church, early seventeenth century, fifth century, foria, fri, joseph bonaparte, north africa, orto botanico, piazza cavour, saint peter, skeletons, traffic junction, workhouse