Fra and I took a quick trip up to Napoli a few weeks ago. Though it rained and we didn't have much time, we did do something really cool: we took a tour of Napoli Sotterranea, or Underground Naples. It had quite an interesting story!
Let's Go Back 2,400 Years...
In the third century BC, the Greeks (because, you know, southern Italy WAS Greece! started excavating the area that is now Napoli to get the tufa stone (a type of limestone) to build their temples.
When the Romans came on the scene, they implemented their impressive aqueduct technology to funnel water into the city. The large vacuous spaces beneath the city became filled with paths of water that fed fountains and wells around Napoli.
This served the city well until the 1600s, when a new aqueduct was built. By the beginning of the 20th century, the underground cisterns were abandoned.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Now we're in the 1940s, when Napoli was being heavily bombed, first by the Allies, then by the Nazis. Realizing there was a giant space that could be used as a city, officials created exactly that.
During World War II, 4,000 people spent six months living underground. They were protected from the bombs that were rocking the city above, though living conditions couldn't have been fantastic.
We saw a row of separated toilets (Turkish style, so a hole that you stood above or squatted over to do your business). Wouldn't it stink in an enclosed cave, you ask?
Well, geniuses that they were, the toilets were designed near the sea so that the waves would come under the toilets to wash away the waste!
One chamber we saw had caricatures carved on the walls. It was a stark contrast from the plain stone walls. I love imagining some artistic soul wanting to bring a little happiness to a terrible situation by carving drawings on the wall.
The Story of O’ Munaciello
I love a good legend, so this one was fun. The workers who would service the underground cisterns, called pozzari, were rumored to be short of stature, like dwarfs, so they could access the narrow and low pathways in the cisterns.
The other part of this story is the legend of the munaciello, who was said to be a beneficent spirit in Napoli. He would bring gifts and money to homes that he deemed worthy.
Back to the pozzari. They would enter and exit through private wells, which they sometimes took advantage of. They were called munacielli because they dressed like monks in robes, so were "little monks." And from time to time, one might get it on with the lady of the house once he finished his work.
Inexplicably, the house would be filled with gifts and money. Could it be a blessing from the munaciello spirit? The neighbors seemed to think so. Although it's also possible that many pozzari were also thieves, so perhaps they were just giving gifts to their mistresses...
And when said lady suddenly swelled in girth a few months later, what could the husband do? After all, a munaciello had blessed the household!
I bought a little handmade munaciello statue in the gift shop as a memory of our trip. It's said to bring good luck!
Doing a little research online, I see that others who took the Napoli Sotterranea tour saw other parts of the underground area than we did. That just shows how large it is!
If you visit Napoli, I definitely recommend this tour!
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