Can a poor and infamous neighborhood of Naples change its destiny thanks to a cultural heritage hidden underground? The volume “Il Rione Sanità and the Cimitero delle Fontanelle. A living laboratory” (Cnr Edizioni, 2023) starts from this question, edited by Giuseppe Pace, researcher at the Research Institute on innovation and services for development of the Cnr (Cnr- Iriss), which will be presented on Wednesday 17 April, in Naples, at 4pm, in the Human and Social Sciences Center in Via Sanfelice 8.
The book, underlines a note, “tells the results of the living lab of the COST Underground4Value Action, aimed at the protection, reuse and sustainable valorization of the European underground cultural heritage with the participation and empowerment of local communities”. An approach that aimed “not only to involve communities in urban decision-making processes, giving them a fully active role but also to analyze the contribution that underground heritage can give to individual and collective identity, cohesion and social inclusion” .
The volume describes the valorization project – still ongoing – of the Fontanelle Cemetery, an ossuary that dates back to the 16th-17th century when the city of Naples was hit by a series of catastrophic events, starting from the plague of 1656, then placed in current state in the second half of the nineteenth century already at the time with the help of the local population. Enriched by historical and anthropological studies on the Fontanelle Cemetery and the cult of Purgatory, with a focus on the current transformations and patrimonialization of the site, and by geotechnical studies, with particular attention to stability problems, the book illustrates the experience conducted by a international multidisciplinary research group that brought together researchers, local administration and the main local stakeholders. “Among these – it is further stated – the director of the San Gennaro Community Foundation proved to be one of the key actors in the process of valorising the Rione Sanità. Furthermore, the volume tells how the site was perceived by experts on mission and by students of the Underground4value training school”. The aim of the book is to “continue the path of local social and cultural development already started and stimulate further participatory processes and collaborations that can contribute to making the management of this heritage sustainable, while at the same time giving well-being to an increasingly large community”.
The presentation will be attended by Massimo Clemente, Cnr-Iriss director, the professors of the ‘Federico II’ University Caterina Arcidiacono, Maria Cerreta, Stefano Consiglio (the latter also for the Foundation with the South), Giuseppe Pace, Cnr-Iriss researcher. Moderator, Alessandro Castagnaro, ‘Federico II’ University and Aniai Campania.
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