A mortuary practice of great interest based on secondary burial and widespread in Naples until the nineteenth century was the one hosted in the Terresante, the graves of the lay brotherhoods located within ecclesiastical hypogea.

The article is based on a review of published papers and books dealing with secondary burial in Naples searched using Google Scholar, PsycInfo, Scirus and Medline, supplemented with bibliographies of retrieved references. A total of 22 published studies on the subject were identified and analyzed.

The Terresante were endowed with basins filled with earth in which corpses were superficially buried for a first decomposition; after a period of time insufficient for a complete skeletonization, the bodies were moved into niches in the walls of the crypt to complete their decomposition; once skeletonization was accomplished, the skulls were displayed, while post-cranial bones were placed in a common ossuary included in the hypogeum. At the base of the ritual there seemed to be an idea of death perceived not as a sudden event, but instead as a long-lasting process, during which the deceased went through a transitional phase, gradually passing from the earthly state to the afterlife. Moreover, the ritual wanted to symbolize, through the progressive corpse decomposition, the path of the soul towards the afterlife, a destination considered reached only when the skeletonization was complete and the final burial of the bones carried out.

This article reviews the structural organization of the Terresante, the funerary practices they housed as well as the worships which took root and developed within them. The cult of the dead in Naples has involved noticeable religious, historical, architectural and artistic elements and, many centuries after its birth, continues to represent an interesting source of reflection, study and research.