Chiesa di Santa Luciella ai Librai
small chapel with a crypt featuring a "skull with ears"
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A small chapel in the heart of Naples, Italy, with a crypt featuring various human skulls, including the famous “skull with ears” (they’re not really ears, of course). Not a major dark site, but worth a look.
More background info: The chapel was first constructed in the 14th century, was remodelled in a baroque style and taken over by various religious groups, and also by a guild of stonemasons – hence the dedication to St. Lucy, the patron saint of eyesight, as the “Pipernieri”, stonemasons working with glass-like lava stones, risked injuring their eyes in their job. The chapel was also managed by the Brotherhood of Immaculate Conception, hence the main altar features a statue of the Virgin Mary.
The chapel’s crypt was long used for burials, in which a particular technique of “double burial” was applied, first piercing the corpses in certain places in order to drain the bodily fluids and then stretching the bodies out in order to desiccate them. After decomposition, the bones were put in an ossuary below the crypt. Only the skulls were kept and put on the cornice wrapped around the interior at roughly eye-level (or a bit above). This remained he case until the practice was banned for hygienic reasons in the early 19th century.
Apparently it was also a local custom to “adopt” a skull in the hope of receiving divine protection by looking after the skull (e.g. cleaning it regularly).
One of the skulls is unique in that it seems to have ears – and this “skull with ears” has become especially famous – and in religious terms was also special as worshippers believed the skull could “hear” their prayers or act as an intermediary between them and the heavens ... or something like that (I’m not very good at understanding/remembering religious details).
The “ears” are of course not really ears, but just look a bit like ears. What they actually are isn’t quite clear, different sources give varying explanations, e.g. mummified cartilage or detached bits of the skull bone that just happened to appear symmetrically on both sides of the skull where the ears would have been on the head.
The chapel was abandoned following an earthquake in 1980 and, without any maintenance, began to deteriorate and become unstable. A couple of decades later it was rediscovered by the cultural association Respiriamo Arte (meaning ‘we breathe art’). Since 2016 the church has been on loan to the association, which began restoration work (apparently still ongoing). Since 2019, the church and crypt have been open to the general public. It has meanwhile become a small but highly rated visitor attraction.
What there is to see: Not all that much, but enough to justify the small admission fee.
When my wife and I visited, it was during the ca. one hour waiting time we had to fill before our admission slot at the nearby Cappella Sansevero (see under Naples). We just rocked on up and were sold a ticket on the spot, after which one of the ladies at the entrance led us into the chapel and indicated the stairs down to the crypt.
We looked around the chapel a bit, which isn’t spectacular, but a pretty enough typical baroque affair. In one corner stands a dummy with a spooky-looking hood (apparently it was common in the brotherhood that was once in charge of the chapel – see above – to wear such hoods on their heads to make them all equals – or some such thing). In front of this is a resin replica of the famous “skull with ears” (see above). And because it is only a copy it’s a hands-on exhibit, as a sign next to it invites visitors to touch and feel it. In another corner there was also a small coffin (for the size of a child) – according to the laminated info sheet (in English) that we had been instructed to borrow at the entrance the coffin is purely symbolic.
After a few moments we made our way down to the crypt, where we found a tour group occupying much of the space. The tour was in Italian, so we didn’t get much of what was being said. We just waited quietly in a corner for the tour to end and the group to leave. That took a while because some in the group were prolific in asking questions and the guide keen to answer elaborately.
But eventually they cleared away and we had the space more or less to ourselves. It’s a small rectangular room with seven arched niches, four of which have stone structures under and in front of them that are filled with soil (called “terresante”). Dotted around on top of the soil are what look like offerings, including toys, rosaries, flowers – and lots of coins. Each of these niches also has one or two baskets full of little slips of paper – apparently messages that visitors can leave for the dead. Mounted to the walls are also numerous tin objects in the shape of faces or whole bodies, plus yet more rosaries.
But what you primarily come for as a visitor, and especially if you are a dark tourist of course, are those skulls. These are lined up along the cornice above the niches. Some are more or less intact, others are quite damaged.
The “star” amongst these skulls is of course the legendary “skull with ears” (see above). This is to be found in a central position on the left-hand side of the crypt (as seen from when you arrive at the bottom of the stairs). It’s actually only half a skull because the bottom half from just below the eye sockets is missing. But the “ears” are clearly visible (unless you are very short – then it might be a bit too high up for a close look).
And that’s more or less it. On the way out I also spotted an ancient cross mural by the bottom of the stairs and back by the entrance there was a glass display cabinet offering souvenirs such as little purgatory figurines and, naturally, little replica “skulls with ears”.
Actually I was surprised that we were not made to join a guided tour as such but left to visit on our own terms. I had read beforehand that guided tours were mandatory and a friend who had visited a year earlier reported it as such too. Why we were treated differently I cannot say. Maybe the rules have changed, or maybe they were just keen to take our money even though there was no English-language tour available at the time.
All in all, not a major dark attraction, but one worth adding on when in this area of the historic centre of Naples (which virtually all tourists will be at some point of their visit), especially if it is without a guided tour. I had read that tours supposedly last an hour. How that can be possible eludes me. There must be lots of historical and religious minutiae told in order to fill that amount of time (the same as e.g. the duration of the tour at the Bourbon Tunnels, where there is infinitely more to see in a space that is at least a hundred times larger than this little chapel).
Location: on Vico Santa Luciella, which is a small alleyway branching off to the north of Via San Biagio dei Librai; right in the heart of the historic centre of Naples, Italy.
Google Maps locator: [40.8494, 14.2572]
Access and costs: a bit hidden, but not too hard to find; reasonably priced.
Details: Most online sources say visits are by guided tour only – and that’s also what a friend of mine reported who had visited a year before. But when I was there I was allowed to just go on my own terms, and in the crypt tagged on to a tour, but that was in Italian. There are supposed to be English-language tours, but maybe none were available when I was there. It remains a bit of a mystery. I would suggest just turning up and finding out for yourself. As far as I can see you can’t book directly online anyway (only through third-party operators).
To get to the site you have to walk. Head into the heart of the Centro Storico (historic centre) and walk along the fairly touristy artery called Via San Biagio dei Librai (a block down from the main tourist thoroughfare that is Via dei Tribunali) and look out for the sign on Vico Santa Luciella.
Opening times: daily from 10:15 a.m. to 18:15 p.m. (a bit longer at weekends).
Admission: 6 euros.
Time required: only about ten minutes or so if you are allowed to visit individually, unguided; up to an hour if the visit is by guided tour.
Combinations with other dark destinations: Just opposite the entrance to the chapel is a Museo delle Torture, so a torture museum (open daily 10-19h, 7€). I didn’t visit it myself, but going by photos I’ve seen online it’s the usual displays of cruel torture implements from bygone ages – which for the most part fall outside this website’s covered time frame (see here) … although the museum’s website claims they also have some late 19th and early 20th century items.
The other nearest partially dark attraction is Cappella Sansevero, a five-minute walk away to the west (see under Naples).
Also just a five-minute walk away is the entrance to the Napoli Sotterranea Centro Storico tours to the north, just off Via dei Tribunali.
And a bit further north from that you can find the Anatomical Museum of the University of Campania … and if you liked the “skull with ears” you will love the richness of displays (including many deformities) in this gem of a museum.
For yet more further away see under Naples in general.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: The chapel is located in the touristic heart of Naples so there are plenty of major attractions in the vicinity.
See under Naples.
