Anime Pezzentelle: Care for Anonymous Dead in Naples

Naples · Campania

The tradition and its place

In Naples, the devotional culture of the anime pezzentelle concerns unidentified dead, remembered and cared for at sites such as the Fontanelle cemetery. Accounts describe an adopted skull, prayer and a relationship of reciprocal attention. The place brings together remains, popular Catholic devotion and the difficult history of poverty and death.

Reading the evidence

The practice has changed over time and site rules must be respected. Human remains are not occult props. Reading the tradition carefully means noticing the anonymous person behind each object and how neighbours attempted to give a neglected dead person a place in living memory.

Another angle

Asking permission, following conservation rules and not touching remains are ways to visit with dignity. Photographs alone can turn care into spectacle; the deeper question is why an anonymous person was given an intimate place in another family’s prayers.