NAPLES: VIRGILIO MAGO

NAPLES: VIRGILIO THE MAGICIAN…

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Vergiliano Park, located at the foot of Posillipo Hill, is home to important monuments that are not always well known.

Inside, you can visit the Crypta Neapolitana, Leopardi’s tomb, and Virgil’s tomb.

The latter, born in Mantua in 70 B.C., moved to Naples via Rome, where he lived for many years until his death in 19 B.C.

 

He was warmly welcomed by the Neapolitans, who named him the city’s patron“magician.”

It is said that Virgil was shy in love, yet kind, good-hearted, and wise…so much so that he advised Emperor Augustus to build the Serino Aqueduct and to equip Naples with wells, fountains, sewers, and thermal baths. Finally, he also encouraged the excavation of the Posillipo Cave itself.

 

There are many legends surrounding him...

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Legend has it that Virgil deliberately hid an iron cage in the castle’s basement, suspended from an oak beam, containing a glass carafe filled with water, inside which an enchanted egg remains safely preserved.

To date, no one has been able to find it… butit is believed that the egg is kept hidden because it serves as a good-luck charm for the castle itself.

If the egg were to be touched—or worse, broken—it would lead to the destruction and collapse of the castle, not to mention trouble and disaster for Naples and the Neapolitans…

 

This legend is rooted in an event from 1370, when a violent southwesterly storm struck the castle, causing part of it to collapse. According to the story, the collapse aided the escape of the imprisoned Lombard commander Ambrogio Visconti, who took advantage of the situation to flee. In his haste to escape, he apparently bumped into the famous cage, causing the egg to break.

It took Queen Joanna I of Anjou herself to appease the deadly wrath of the curse that had just begun; she decided to repair and rebuild the egg, placing it in a sturdier vase;

 

The cave, which is 711 meters long, is said to have been carved out of the tuff by Virgil himself…in a single night, thanks to his powerful magical abilities;

 

Faced with an unmanageable swarm of flies, Virgil created a magical golden fly that flew over the land, killing the enemy flies until the problem was completely resolved;

 

Virgil erected a statue of an archer with his bow pointed toward Vesuvius to keep its eruptions in check and protect Naples.

Unfortunately, a careless farmer knocked the arrow out of its course; as it plunged into Mount Vesuvius, it reignited the volcano’s activity…

 

To quell a devastating equine epidemic, the poet had a statue of a proud and beautiful horse erected. Its positive energy helped eradicate the disease... the animals recovered after walking around it three times;

 

The poet’s vast knowledge, he recounts, enables him to preserve butchered meat for as long as six weeks;

 

It took a spell cast by Virgil to stop and kill a snake that was roaming the streets of Naples, biting and strangling children and young girls, and terrorizing the population;

 

To help the fishermen during a time of severe scarcity of fish, Virgil carved a small fish onto a large stone and cast a spell for a lucky catch. From that day on, fishing was never a problem again;

 

Virgil had observed that marshy areas were rife with disease and terrible odors. Thanks to his magical powers, the people of Naples saw the marshes drained and transformed into healthy gardens.

 

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