Description
The Catacombs of San Gennaro are a vast underground cemetery dug into the tuff of Capodimonte hill, in Naples, between the 2nd and 3rd centuries. They are the city's most important Christian monument and a journey into Naples in its earliest centuries.
The entrance is next to the church of the Incoronata a Capodimonte, on the edge of the Sanità district. The galleries run over two levels, with tombs, frescoed burial chambers, mosaics and even whole churches carved underground.
On the upper level is the oldest known portrait of San Gennaro, from the 5th century: the martyr between a woman and a little girl, with the inscription Sancto Martyri Januario above his head. A little farther on, the frescoes of the deceased Bitalia and Cerula, shown in prayer.
Beyond a three-arched passage opens the underground basilica, carved entirely out of the tuff: something very rare in catacombs. In the Crypt of the Bishops, meanwhile, 5th-century mosaics shine, with portraits of bishops whose faces are surprisingly lifelike.
On the lower level, the vestibule is perhaps the most beautiful space: it was the tomb of the Roman family from which everything began, with sarcophagi cut into the rock, a ceiling painted in the Pompeian style and, in the center, a baptistery from 762.
We don't even know that family's name. Around its tomb Saint Agrippinus, the sixth bishop of Naples, was buried, and in the 5th century Bishop John I had San Gennaro brought here. It was a boom: tombs everywhere, galleries extended, burials dug even into the floor.
Then, in 831, the Lombard prince Sico besieged Naples. The city did not fall, but he carried off its dearest treasure: the bones of San Gennaro, stolen from these galleries and taken to Benevento. Centuries of neglect followed.
The catacombs came back into fashion with the Grand Tour and served as an air-raid shelter in World War II. The real rebirth came from the neighborhood: since 2006, driven by a network of local young people, they have been open to everyone, and visitors went from 5,000 to 130,000 in 2018.
Don't miss
• The portrait of San Gennaro.
• The underground basilica.
• The Crypt of the Bishops.
• The lower vestibule with the baptistery.
Did you know?
• Among the bishops portrayed in the mosaics is Quodvultdeus, bishop of Carthage, driven out by the Vandals and who arrived in Naples by sheer luck, by sea.
• Between 762 and 764 a bishop expelled from the city turned the catacombs into his emergency episcopal residence.
The entrance is next to the church of the Incoronata a Capodimonte, on the edge of the Sanità district. The galleries run over two levels, with tombs, frescoed burial chambers, mosaics and even whole churches carved underground.
On the upper level is the oldest known portrait of San Gennaro, from the 5th century: the martyr between a woman and a little girl, with the inscription Sancto Martyri Januario above his head. A little farther on, the frescoes of the deceased Bitalia and Cerula, shown in prayer.
Beyond a three-arched passage opens the underground basilica, carved entirely out of the tuff: something very rare in catacombs. In the Crypt of the Bishops, meanwhile, 5th-century mosaics shine, with portraits of bishops whose faces are surprisingly lifelike.
On the lower level, the vestibule is perhaps the most beautiful space: it was the tomb of the Roman family from which everything began, with sarcophagi cut into the rock, a ceiling painted in the Pompeian style and, in the center, a baptistery from 762.
We don't even know that family's name. Around its tomb Saint Agrippinus, the sixth bishop of Naples, was buried, and in the 5th century Bishop John I had San Gennaro brought here. It was a boom: tombs everywhere, galleries extended, burials dug even into the floor.
Then, in 831, the Lombard prince Sico besieged Naples. The city did not fall, but he carried off its dearest treasure: the bones of San Gennaro, stolen from these galleries and taken to Benevento. Centuries of neglect followed.
The catacombs came back into fashion with the Grand Tour and served as an air-raid shelter in World War II. The real rebirth came from the neighborhood: since 2006, driven by a network of local young people, they have been open to everyone, and visitors went from 5,000 to 130,000 in 2018.
Don't miss
• The portrait of San Gennaro.
• The underground basilica.
• The Crypt of the Bishops.
• The lower vestibule with the baptistery.
Did you know?
• Among the bishops portrayed in the mosaics is Quodvultdeus, bishop of Carthage, driven out by the Vandals and who arrived in Naples by sheer luck, by sea.
• Between 762 and 764 a bishop expelled from the city turned the catacombs into his emergency episcopal residence.