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Mergellina

Zones of Naples
Mergellina
Mergellina

Mergellina is a coastal section of the city of Naples, Italy. It is located in the quartiere of Chiaia. It stands at the foot of the Posillipo Hill and faces the Castel dell'Ovo. Some people tell the name derives from that of a shorebird called "mergoglino". There is some doubt amongst the locals as to the origin of the name "Mergellina". Other people may have the opinion that it is a corruption of "Mare Giallo" which refers to when the sea turned yellow due to floating tufa rock dust following a volcanic eruption many centuries ago. However very likely the real origin of the name is from Latin "mare ialinum", that stands for clear, transparent sea.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Mergellina (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Mergellina
Via Francesco Caracciolo, Naples Chiaia

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 40.826805555556 ° E 14.222638888889 °
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Via Francesco Caracciolo 10
80123 Naples, Chiaia
Campania, Italy
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Mergellina
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Parco Virgiliano (Mergellina)
Parco Virgiliano (Mergellina)

Parco Vergiliano (not to be confused with Parco Virgiliano at Posillipo) is a public park in Naples, southern Italy. It is located directly across from the Mergellina railway station and in back of the church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta. It is a relatively small space and easy to overlook. The site is a monument tribute to the poet Virgil, and a plaque claims that the site is the final resting place of the poet. The site is at the eastern opening of the so-called Neapolitan Crypt, an ancient Roman tunnel that led through the Posillipo hill to connect to a major road leading north to Rome, itself. Legend says that the poet—also renowned as a sorcerer—called the tunnel into existence by his powers. The tunnel was probably the work of Lucius Cocceus Auctus, the Roman engineer who built the nearby Seiano Grotto and many of the fortifications of the Roman Imperial Port in Baia. Parco Virgiliano also contains the authenticated tomb of a more recent poet, Giacomo Leopardi, who died in Naples in 1837. The "Neapolitan Crypt" is also called, generically, a "grotta" (grotto) and is the reference in various place names in the area such as Piedigrotta ("at the foot of the grotto") and Fuorigrotta ("at the other end of the grotto"). The tunnel, though ancient, was kept up and even expanded in recent centuries and remained in sporadic use until quite late, until superseded by two nearby modern vehicular tunnels around 1900.