- Courtyard of Saint James Palace during the Second World War
The discovery of an explosive device in Municipio square dropped from a plane during the Second World War, reminded of the martyrdom of the city struck by more than 100 bombing raid.
During 47 months of war Naples was the target of english, american and german air raids and the balance of damages was terryfing: more than 200.000 opening rooms were destroyed or were uninhabitable, 65% of the structures and railway and tramway stuff were out of use,the telephone connections were blocked and the port was heavely damaged. The gasometer was destroyed and ten hotels too, while 60 were uninhabitable; monuments, museums, churchs were struck and the underground was damaged by the opening abysses and the collapse of ancient caves.
During the night between 8th and 9th November 1941 eleven english aircrafts of the 40° and the 140° RAF Squadron dropped 71 bombs over the central and portual area of the city. Some bombs struck the Palace and The Saint James Basilica but luckily the explosive device didn't explode.
The picture shows the courtyard of the Saint James Palace with the walls of sandbags useful to stop the lethal fragments of the bombs