Published by Meltemi and signed by Marino Niola, «Anime. Purgatory in Naples »is a reading of rare charm that combines the rigor of research in the field with the suggestions of the story that drags and captivates page after page. The exploration of the essay crosses the ancient Neapolitan cult of the “capuzzelle”. A spontaneous, popular event, opposed by the Church and deeply felt in the essence of Naples. Although not infrequently today the Neapolitan hypogea crammed with skulls have become a tourist destination, the link between these places and the Neapolitan people is complex and anything but superficial. Based on a tender feeling of pity. Indeed of Pietas. The cult originated from the felt need to meet these abandoned, almost always nameless, outcast, beggar skulls. Sorrowful humanity which is generally made up of plague victims, death row inmates, sailors who died at sea. Poor people who ended their existence in fear, suffering and loneliness. Dead people united by not having received religious comfort and not being regrets in mourning. Needy souls stuck in purgatory, to be treated with caring tenderness as if they were children to be adopted and accompanied to heaven. With prayers and cares.
The adoption of a “capuzzella” to look after was born as a gesture of affection on the part of a visitor. Or as an act of devotion inaugurated in sleep. In this case, the soul that wants to entrust itself to the sleeper shows up in a dream making itself known. So that, going to the hypogeum, the devotee has no doubts in identifying, among hundreds of skulls, the one with which he came into contact. The cult thus becomes a direct expression of a never interrupted dialogue between life and death. Distinctive cultural element of the Neapolitan soul. Tradition which is a philosophical conception of existence and which finds confirmation in a close dialogue with the other world. In short, a great collective dream that from time to time is expressed in unrepeatable individual experiences. Between legend and true fact. Thus the cared for soul is redeemed from purgatory and arrives in heaven. And the Cinderella “pezzentella” of the afterlife becomes a “glorious head” participant in the supreme mystery and in the light. In these situations, a reciprocity mechanism often starts. The soul returns the attention received. It also comes to bestow graces. It can make people find work, “hard work”, or a home. Solve a health problem, or free yourself from a cause for distress. In Marino Niola’s book that narrates all this, the individual stories taken from the voice of ordinary people have special beauty. Extraordinary anecdotes take on the tone of things seen and heard, with the air of the “true fact”. A magical and suggestive mixture for the reader who at times pauses overwhelmed by emotion, thoughtful beyond all logic.
It is not surprising to discover that children are considered privileged interlocutors for the “pezzentelle”. They are the closest to orphaned skulls because they themselves are innocent in need of care and speak a language common to the deserted dead. In any case, for the living, always, «education in pietas towards the dead […] it becomes the model of pietas towards the living ». Like all cults that are built with symbols, the ritual role of water is very important for the devotees of the “capuzzelle”. Of washing. To cleanse from sin, to emancipate souls from the sins committed and to lead them to salvation. And if at times the souls have specific requests that they manifest to their guardians in a dream, candies, biscuits, tarallini, small food offerings usually serve to nourish them. Earthly food then becomes supernatural. In fact, the cult of the “capuzzelle” is a very unique exercise of solidarity projected into the time after death. Precious message that speaks to our present and questions it. With poetry.