entry July 2011, revised Jan 2015
Cave churches &
The Church of S. Maria di Pietraspaccata
If you
have browsed in the entries in the Underground Naples portal,
you know of the extensive network of cavities that lie
both beneath the city or that are dug into the tufa hills
surrounding the city. There a few natural caves and
grottoes, but most of the cavities are artificial; that
is, excavated quarries, aqueducts, and tunnels that have
served practical purposes, both ancient and modern, over
the centuries. A few of them have been cemeteries (such as
the Fontanelle), and
some of them —not many— have been places of worship. These
are the so-called "cave churches". (I am using a loose
definition of the term 'cave' to encompass sites that may,
in fact, be at "ground level" regardless of actual
elevation; that is, for example, a natural grotto or dug
quarry easily accessible from the outside by way of a
straight-in horizontal entrance, (such as the one shown in
the image, right) as well as "sub-horizontal" sites that
have been excavated down to a basement level and are truly
underground. You have to descend into them. 
There
are examples of cave churches in many places in southern
Italy: in Matera, for
example, the entire town, churches and all, was cut into
the sides of cliffs; or in Fasano, near Brindisi
(again, the church was part of an entire cave village). In
the territory of Mottola in Puglia, there are about 30
such cave churches, dug according to a precise liturgical
scheme that has the apse (the semicircular projection of
the church with a domed or vaulted roof) facing east.
Almost all of these are termed "Byzantine" (also
Italo-Greek) churches because they were built by adherents
of the Greek Orthodox faith who migrated into Italy at
about the time of the so-called "iconoclast" controversies
(the eighth and centuries). Also well-known is the
picturesque church of Sotterra di Paola sotterra
means, indeed, 'underground') in Calabria. And perhaps the
most spectacular example of an underground sanctuary in
Italy is the sanctuary of the
archangel Michael on the Gargano peninsula in
the town of Monte Sant'Angelo. In Naples there are a few
examples that come to mind in the same general category of
underground worship (some of it pre- or non-Christian):
the Fontanelle cemetery is noted above (it qualified as a
place of worship once such things as altars and other
accoutrements of worship were installed on the premises);
then, consider the original Greek
hypogea (tombs) in what is now the Sanità part of the city, or
the Grotto of Mithra
beneath the Pizzofalcone
hill. Also, in Marano, there is the subject of
this entry, the small church of Santa Maria di
Pietraspaccata (all
images on this page are of that site). 
An ideal
place to dig a hole in a tufa mountain in Naples would be
on the northwest slope behind the great Camaldoli hill,
itself a remnant wall of the great archiflegrean caldera collapse
eons ago. That is where we find the town of Marano and the
cave church of Santa Maria di Pietraspaccata ("split
stone") built on and in the hill in woods that slope down
towards the town of Quarto. The church is in a state of
total decay and those concerned with preserving the
cultural artifacts of the area have launched an appeal to
save it. I don't see that as impossible; I do see it as
difficult, however. The history of the church is obscure,
at least as to the original use of the site for religious
purposes. A Christian church, a hermitage, goes back at
least to the 1600s, but the man-made cave, itself, shows
some evidence of being much older than that and may have
been a cult site or even a cemetery in the days of ancient
Rome.Interestingly, though the church is in terrible condition, there are still religious rites, including baptisms and communion, held on the site; the figure of Our Lady of Pietraspaccata is still revered by locals, who have managed to keep at least part of the premises in working order. One of the legends connected with the site is that of the massive rock that split from the cliff side during the construction of the original hermitage; it splintered and changed in mid-flight into a likeness of the Madonna, which was then displayed as the iconic religious relic of the church. It was stolen in the 1970s, according to one source. The structure that will have to be restored includes the stairway entrance and facade in the rock face, three separate inside levels around the main chapel, and, as long as we are making a wish list, the murals on the wall and the majolica tiles in various places. There is also a belfry in shambles. I don't imagine there is any hope of getting the Madonna back.
all photos courtesy of Napoli Underground (NUg).
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