Church of Santa Luciella to the Booksellers

The Church of Santa Luciella ai Librai is a hidden gem in the heart of the historic center of Naples, located in vico Santa Luciella, a narrow alley that connects San Biagio dei Librai to San Gregorio Armeno. Founded in 1327 by Bartolomeo di Capua, a jurist and political advisor to Charles II and Robert I of Anjou, the church represents one of the most fascinating examples of medieval religious architecture in the city of Naples. The church is famous for its connection to the guild of pipernieri, artisans who worked with piperno, a local volcanic stone. These artisans, to protect themselves from the risks of their work, venerated Saint Lucia, the patron saint of sight, dedicating this place of worship to her. The church became a point of reference for the pipernieri and their families, who went there to seek divine protection. On the outside, the church features a portal in piperno surmounted by a coat of arms of the guild and a small bell tower with two bells, a large one dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and a small one to Saint Lucia. The interior is a rectangular single nave, with a beautiful maiolica floor that has survived neglect and abandonment. The main altar, located on the left of the entrance, housed a statue of the Immaculate Conception, while opposite the entrance is a chapel dedicated to Saint Lucia. The church also houses a choir and an eighteenth-century organ, and the walls are decorated with Marian coats of arms dating back to the eighteenth-century renovation. One of the most fascinating and mysterious aspects of the church is the so-called “skull with ears,” preserved in the hypogeum, the underground crypt used as a cemetery. This skull, unique in its kind, has protrusions on the sides that resemble ears. Legend has it that, thanks to these ears, the skull could better hear the prayers of the faithful, facilitating communication with the afterlife. This peculiarity made it an object of great veneration, an integral part of the cult of the “pezzentelle souls,” a Neapolitan tradition that involves the adoption of skulls of souls in purgatory in exchange for heavenly favors. The hypogeum is also the place where the pipernieri buried their dead, practicing the draining of bodies in the “terresante,” tanks in which the bodies were drained of fluids before being placed in the ossuary. The practice of the “pezzentelle souls” is linked to the belief that the soul of the deceased resided in the skull, and that by praying for these souls one could obtain their intercession. After a long period of abandonment, the church was reopened in 2019 thanks to the cultural association “Respiriamo Arte,” which started a project to recover and enhance the site. The association organizes guided tours and cultural events, making the church a place of interest not only religious but also tourist and social. The efforts of the association have been crucial in returning this precious monument to the community, promoting social inclusion activities such as lessons for children on the themes of legality and civic education.