The Vico, and Vicoletto, of Zuroli, more commonly called ''Vicolo dei Zuroli'' (f''ormerly Vico de' Boccapianola'') are two historic

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

s located in the historic center of the city of Naples, they are located near ''Via Forcella'' (''Furcella in

Neapolitan dialect Neapolitan ( autonym: ; ) is a Romance language of the Italo-Romance group spoken in most of continental Southern Italy. It is named after the Kingdom of Naples, which once covered most of the area, and the city of Naples was its capital. On ...

''), near the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia,

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

and historical place of Naples since 2005, between ''

Via dei Tribunali Via dei Tribunali is a street in the old historic center of Naples, Italy. It was the main ''decumanus'' or Decumano Maggiore — that is, the main east-west street — of the ancient Greek and then Roman city of Neapolis, paralleled to the sou ...

'' and ''Via Vicaria Vecchia'', in the '' Pendino district''. In the ''Vicolo dei Zuroli'' there is an ancient noble

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

, which previously belonged to the noble Boccapianola family and subsequently acquired, restored and enlarged by another noble Neapolitan family, that of

Zurolo family Zurolo is an Italian surname. Variations ''Zollino, Zorlino,'' ''Zullini, Zullo, Zurla, Zurli, Zurlini, Zurlino,'' ''Zurlo, Zuroli, Zurri, Zurro.'' Geographical distribution As of 2014, among all known bearers of the surname ''Zurolo'' there w ...

from which they took their

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

. They converge in ''Via Carminiello ai Mannesi'', where the archaeological excavations of San Carminiello ai Mannesi are located, from which the street takes its name.

Ubivation

Construction

The Vico, and the Vicoletto, of Zuroli are located behind Via Duomo, in the Decumani area, the ancient center of the city. The

is located between the Decumano Maggiore in the upper part of

and the Decumano Inferior (more commonly known as Spaccanapoli) in the lower part of Via Vicaria Vecchia, in the ancient Capuana district (so called because there was a road that led to the

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

city of

Capua Capua ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, located on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etruscan ''Capeva''. The ...

), the current Pendino district.

Stenopoi

The Greek system provided for a strictly orthogonal road scheme in which three streets, the widest (about six metres) and largest, parallel to each other, called plateiai (singular: ''plateia''), crossed the ancient urban center dividing it into four parts. Furthermore, these main streets were cut perpendicularly, from north to south, by other smaller streets (about three meters wide) called '' stenopoi'' (singular: ''stenopos'') or more improperly cardini, which streets today constitute the alleys of the historic city center, these streets were intersected perpendicularly by stenopoi in a north–south direction, still recognizable today in streets such as: ''Via Atri'', ''Vico Giganti'', ''Via Duomo'', ''Vico Zuroli'' (plural) ''seu Zurolo'' (singular) and many others.

History

The Boccapianola family

In ancient times the place was called Boccapianoli, from the surname of the noble Boccapianola family who once lived there. In the year 1301 Giovanni Boccapianola had a noble

built near the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia, by the architect Giacomo De Sanctis, in pure

Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

The Zurolo family

The noble

then found a home there, between the 14th and 15th centuries, obtained the ''seat of Porta di Capuana'' as for the other Neapolitan noble families, they then acquired the noble palace tha belong to the Boccapianola family, from this noble prosapia, structural changes and expansion. Subsequently, the toponym of this place was replaced by ''Vico or Vicoletto dei Boccapianoli'' into ''Vico, and Vicoletto, dei Zuroli'' from which it took its name from the aforementioned palace rebuilt by the Zurolo family of which some exponents most representative lived there.

Greco-Roman aqueduct

It is attested that a small branch of the Greco-Roman aqueduct of Naples also passed through the Vico dei Zuroli, from Via dei Tribunali to Via Forcella, making it a circuit; the water conveyed was called ''acqua della Bolla'', because it was also called ''Polla'' from the hill that rose underground.

Stories linked to the place

In 1898 Almerinda d'Ettorre, a young 25-year-old woman who lived in Vico dei Zuroli at number 2, began to have apocalyptic visions of the future of the world and then made religious prophecies, also claiming to be in direct contact with Jesus Christ, the which would have foretold her own death and resurrection, which should have occurred on 10 August of that same year. Arriving at the fateful 10 August, nothing of what she predicted happened, nor did she perish at the hands of God. At the end of the episode, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

defined the case of Almerinda d'Ettorre as a phenomenon of

demonic possession Spirit Possession is an altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors which are purportedly caused by the control of a human body and its functions by Supernatural#Spirit, spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, or Deity, gods. The concept ...

Notes

Bibliography

Historical sources

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Archival sources

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Secondary sources

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Yearbooks and essays

Newspaper articles

External links

Official

Other

* * * * * {{Cite web , last=Staff di Altervista , date=22 September 2024 , title=Il vico della famiglia Zuroli , trans-title=The alley of the Zuroli family , url=https://napolineiparticolari.altervista.org/il-vico-della-famiglia-zuroli/ , access-date=29 October 2024 , website=Altervista , publisher=Altervista , place=Naples (NA) , language=IT Streets in Naples Alleys