NAPLES: VIRGIL MAGO

NAPLES: VIRGILIO MAGO...

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The Vergiliano Park, located at the foot of the Posillipo hill, holds important monuments that are not always known.

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

The latter, born in Mantua in 70 BC, moved to Naples via Rome, living there for many years until the end of his days in 19 BC.

 

He was warmly welcomed by the Neapolitans, who elected him as the city's patron'magician'.

The story goes of a Virgil who was shy in love, kind, good and wise... so much so that he advised the Emperor Augustus to build the Serino aqueduct, to equip Naples with wells, fountains, cloisters and thermal complexes. Finally, he also encouraged the excavation of the Posillipo grotto itself.

 

Many are the legends involving him...

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It is said that Virgil deliberately hid an iron cage hanging from an oak beam in the castle dungeon with a glass jug full of water inside, inside which an enchanted egg remains safely.

To date, no one has been able to find it... but it is believed that the egg is kept secret as a lucky amulet for the castle itself.

If the egg were to be touched or worse still broken, it would cause the destruction and collapse of the castle as well as trouble and calamity for Naples and the Neapolitans...

 

Giving substance to this legend is an event from 1370 when a very strong libeccio storm hit the castle, causing part of it to collapse. History has it that the collapse aided the escape of the prisoner Lombard leader Ambrogio Visconti who, taking advantage of the situation, decided to escape. In his haste to escape, he apparently hit the famous cage, causing the egg to break.

It took Queen Jeanne I of Anjou herself to appease the wrathful wrath of the curse that had just set in, who decided to fix and rebuild the egg by preserving it in a sturdier jar;

 

The 711-metre-long cave is said to have been dug out of the tuff by Virgil himself...in a single night, thanks to his strong magical powers;

 

Faced with an unmanageable invasion of flies, Virgil created a magic golden fly that flew around the territory and killed the enemies until the problem was completely eradicated;

 

Virgil erected a statue of an archer with his bow outstretched towards Vesuvius to control its eruptions and protect Naples.

Unfortunately, a careless farmer hit the arrow, which lodged in Vesuvius, causing volcanic activity to resume...

 

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

 

The poet's vast knowledge tells of him being able to preserve slaughtered meat for as long as six weeks;

 

It took a spell by Virgil to stop and kill a snake that roamed Naples biting and choking children and young girls, terrorising the population;

 

To help the fishermen at a time of great scarcity of fish, Virgil carved a small fish on a large stone, casting a lucky fishing spell on it. From that day on, fishing was never a problem again;

 

Virgil had observed that in marshy areas, there was a higher concentration of diseases and terrible smells. With his magical powers, the people of Naples had their swamps reclaimed and turned into healthy gardens.

 

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We would like to thank the following sources for the information gathered and invite you to further investigate: