Naples: New cemetery fees and major maintenance work planned

NAPLES – Updated fees and extraordinary maintenance work: Naples' cemeteries are preparing for a major overhaul. The Council's Health and Environment Committee, chaired by Fiorella Saggese, has examined Council Resolution 484/2025, which introduces an ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics) adjustment to cemetery fees and, for the first time, a specific fee for burial niches and ossuary cells located beyond the sixth row.

“After a detailed explanation of the urgency arising from the need to assign thousands of already existing but unpriced positions, the Commission expressed an almost unanimous favorable opinion.”, reads a note. The bill will be brought before the Council Chamber on December 11, 2025, with a declaration of immediate enforceability.

Antonietta Agliata, director of the City Cemetery Service, outlined a comprehensive overview of the activities undertaken since her appointment in March 2025: the auction sale of the first four family chapels generated €430.000, while the weekly sale of priority burial niches is proceeding as expected. A computerized tender for the assignment of approximately 3.800 new artifacts is imminent, with estimated revenues of around €6 million, and the judicial recovery of unpaid fees since 2017 will begin.

On the construction front, the final approval of the Poggioreale Cemetery's PUA will allow work to begin between March and April 2026, while in Soccavo, work is underway to resolve issues related to the expansion. Restoration work on the Resurrection 2 chapel is also underway, as is the request for funding for the restoration of the Monumental Cemetery, where many bodies have already been transferred and memorial stones have been placed for the approximately 300 unidentified victims.

The purchasers of 92 family chapels acquired in the past through irregular sales have been informed of the legal impossibility of granting pre-emptive rights: this would result in the legitimation of legally invalid transactions and serious criminal and accounting liabilities. The assets will therefore be sold for profit through public auction.

The new Cemetery Police Regulations, rewritten according to the guidelines of the Regional Mortuary Police Council, are undergoing internal review and will be submitted for mandatory approval. Councilor Vincenzo Santagada highlighted the new measures introduced, including the use of security guards and maintenance of greenery, as well as the start of work on the Illustrious Men's Square, to restore the city's memory and cultural identity.