The cemetery is dug into the tufa rock of the hill of Materdei. It's possible to access from the small church of Maria Santissima del Carmine, built in the early nineteenth century, close to tufa's caves. The cemetery is composed of numerous large size caverns, which were used as a charnel house (ossuary) of the city.
At the end of nineteenth century some devotees, led by Father Gaetano Barbati, arranged in neat piles the thousands of human bones found in the cemetery. From that moment there was a spontaneous and strong popular devotion to the anonymous dead, in which the faithful identify the souls in purgatory needing for attention.
Some skulls then were "adopted" by devotees, who place them in special wood showcases, identified with a name and a story that in some cases they claimed to have been revealed in a dream. For many years, the cemetery was the scene of these popular religious rituals and practices very special.
