New street cave-in in Vomero Section of Naples, Italy

This afternoon about 4 PM, on Via Cimarosa in the Vomero there was a cave in, with no warning, sending a portion of sidewalk along side the Maria Ausiliatrice Institute. A pedestrian fell into the gaping 13 foot deep sinkhole but was uninjured. The cave-in was above the general area of an underground cavity which we know about only through sketchy word of mouth over the years but we have never surveyed and explored it. In fact in our directory of WW II Air Raid Shelters which made from huge tufo quarry cavities beneath the city, directory number R406 is shown to be right in the area at #140 and #69 Via Cimarosa where the cave-in happened. It is noted in the Air Raid Shelter directory that there was a grotto in that area but it was not completed as an air raid shelter, though plans called for it to hold 500 persons. The access stairs should be found, probably inside the courtyard of the Institute.

Translation - Larry Ray