Vico and Vicoletto of Zuroli

The Vico, and Vicoletto, dei Zuroli, more commonly called Vicolo dei Zuroli (in some ancient texts in Vico de' Zurli) (before that in Vico de' Boccapianola) are two historic alleys located in the historic center of the city of Naples, they are located near Via Forcella (Furcella in Neapolitan dialect), near the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia (art museum and historical place of Naples since 2005), between Via dei Tribunali and Via Vicaria Vecchia, in the Pendino district.

In the Vicolo dei Zuroli there is an ancient noble palace, which previously belonged to the noble Boccapianola family of Neapolitan origin and subsequently acquired, restored and enlarged by another noble Neapolitan family, that of the Zurolo, from which the two alleys took and still have the names in the plural form of this surname.

They converge in Via Carminiello ai Mannesi, where the archaeological excavations of San Carminiello ai Mannesi are located, from which the street takes its name.

Construction
The Vico, and the Vicoletto, of the Zuroli are located behind Via Duomo, in the Decumani area, the ancient center of the city. The alley is located between the Decumano Maggiore in the upper part of Via dei Tribunali and the Decumano Inferior (more commonly known as Spaccanapoli) in the lower part of Via Vicaria Vecchia, in the ancient Capuana district (so called because there was a road that led to the Campania city of Capua ), the current Pendino district.

Stenopoi
The Greek system provided for a strictly orthogonal road scheme in which three streets, the widest (about six metres ) and largest, parallel to each other, called plateiai (singular: plateia), crossed the ancient urban center dividing it into four parts. Furthermore, these main streets were cut perpendicularly, from north to south, by other smaller streets (about three meters wide) called stenopoi (singular: stenopos) or more improperly cardini, which streets today constitute the alleys of the historic city center, these streets were intersected perpendicularly by stenopoi in a north-south direction, still recognizable today in streets such as: Via Atri, Vico Giganti, Via Duomo, Vico Zuroli and many others.

The Boccapianola family
In ancient times the place was called Boccapianoli, from the surname of the noble Boccapianola family who once lived there.

In the year 1301 Giovanni Boccapianola had a noble palace built near the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia, by the architect Giacomo De Sanctis, in pure Gothic style.

The Zurolo family
The noble Zurolo family then found a home there, between the 14th and 15th centuries, obtained the seat of Porta di Capuana as for the other Neapolitan noble families, they then acquired the noble palace tha belong to the Boccapianola family, from this noble prosapia, structural changes and expansion.

Subsequently the toponym of this place was replaced by Vico or Vicoletto dei Boccapianoli into Vico, and Vicoletto, dei Zuroli from which it took its name from the aforementioned palace rebuilt by the Zurolo family of which some exponents most representative lived there.

Greco-Roman aqueduct
It is attested that a small branch of the Greco-Roman aqueduct of Naples also passed through the Vico dei Zuroli, from Via dei Tribunali to Via Forcella, making it a circuit; the water conveyed was called acqua della Bolla, because it was also called Polla from the hill that rose underground.

Stories linked to the place
In 1898 Almerinda d'Ettorre, a young 25-year-old woman who lived in Vico dei Zuroli at number 2, began to have apocalyptic visions of the future of the world and then made religious prophecies, also claiming to be in direct contact with Jesus Christ, the which would have foretold her own death and resurrection, which should have occurred on August 10 of that same year.

Arriving at the fateful 10 August, nothing of what she predicted happened, nor did she perish at the hands of God. At the end of the episode, the Catholic Church defined the case of Almerinda d'Ettorre as a phenomenon of demonic possession.