Top of the World
There where Via Posillipo flows into Piazza Salvatore di Giacomo, opens the 'entrance to the Schilizzi Mausoleum of Naples, one of the best Italian examples of the neo-Egyptian architectural style. The mausoleum was built in 1880 in a style referring to the architecture of ancient Egypt. It serves as a monument in honor of the fallen in the First and Second World Wars. The construction of this imposing monument was overseen by Alfonso Guerra on a commission from Matteo Schilizzi. A banker from Livorno who had moved to Naples and intended to house the graves of his family members here.
Matteo Schilizzi, of Jewish origin, was a singular and generous man who helped many destitute Neapolitans during the cholera of 1884. Together with Duchess Ravaschieri he founded in 1900 the "Lina Ravaschieri," the first orthopedic hospital for children. Matteo Schilizzi was also actively involved in politics and journalism; in fact, he was one of the major financiers of the Corriere di Napoli.
Due to changed interests of the Schilizzi family, work started in 1881 and was suspended a few years later (in 1889). It was only after a long period of standstill and neglect, lasting about thirty years, that Camillo Guerra completed its construction.
The City of Naples bought it in 1921 and from 1929 dedicated it as a mausoleum for the fallen of the Fatherland. After those of the Great War, transferred from Poggioreale, came those of World War II and the Four Days of Naples.
It is said that at night strange noises are heard coming from the shrine, perhaps the footsteps of Schilizzi who, having failed to finish his project, returns to visit his beloved mausoleum.
