With the help of Renzo Piano, Naples' Fontanelle Cemetery becomes a museum

The City of Naples will restructure the Fontanelle Cemetery, putting it at the center of a larger project of recovery and redevelopment of the Rione Sanità district, which already started some years ago. The cemetery of the “anime pezzentelle” (“miserable souls”) – in which the famous “capuzzelle” (“small heads” in Neapolitan language), a legacy of the ancient cult of skulls, are located – will be transformed into a museum run by private individuals.

The external access areas, currently in a state of decay and abandonment, have been redesigned by the team of architects of Renzo Piano, the young G124 group. The project is a gift that Renzo Piano has made to the city. With the tourist boom which Naples is experiencing, the mayor – Gaetano Manfredi – is convinced that the Rione Sanità district will become one of the major attractions of the city.