My final adventure in Napoli was visiting the island of Procida with my friend Cam. Cam and I were keen to explore abandoned areas of the city and Procida was on our list since he arrived at the beginning of April. Why Procida, you may ask? Well, it's got a badass castle perched on the cliff side from the 1500's that was turned into a women's prison in the 1900's - that's why.
We didn't know what state the interior was in or if it was even possible to find a way in but we decided we were going to get in regardless. When we came to the viewpoint, with the bay of Napoli straight ahead and the prison to our left, we turned to our skills learned from Assassins Creed and devised a plan.
Our best bet for entry was to climb over the fence then skirt along a narrow, slanted ledge and hop between a wall and a fence into a small decaying area that was approximately 8 feet x 8 feet. Now, keep in mind, except for a small 3 foot outcropping about 15 feet below us we were about 75 meters straight up from the sea...
Not the time to have a fear of heights!
Once in the little, square midpoint we had to climb along a decaying wall to get over to the other side. After I collapsed part of a wall climbing up and the other half climbing back down I was pretty skeptical about the whole thing. I decided to turn back because I couldn't make it to where Cam had climbed over... I was pretty worried that I would get injured. After about 30 minutes of waiting I skirted along the ledge and climbed back over to the viewing point. Cam had been gone for 45 minutes now and all I thought about was that a little fear stopped me from exploring an abandoned jail; something I've wanted to do for years. And then Cam came from the complete opposite direction that we had entered... He had found a new way in.
We walked through a blatantly open gate, down a long grassy area alongside guard towers, through a small gate and we were in.
Although I didn't feel like Ezio with this entrance I was finally in the jail without any broken limbs.
We explored through 3 levels of cells that were all in varying degrees of decay. The contrast of standing in a dingy cell, paint peeling off the walls while simultaneously staring out at a beautiful view of the sea and the town of Procida was staggering.
Besides the manual labour, scratchy clothing, isolation and heinously coloured cells I imagine this was an ideal prison with the amount of outdoor areas as well as large windows to such a hopeful view!
Sidenote: This was the approximate time that Cam and I began making a small tomahawk, for protection of course, using a stick, some wire & string as well as a glass shard. Yes. That happened.
After the 3 levels of cells we wandered through some outdoor walkways, in and out of a few small seemingly unimportant rooms and then into what seemed to be a large common area. It had extremely high ceilings, a common theme in all the common areas, and there were chairs and tables scattered throughout.
At the end of one of these adjoining rooms was a chair. Not a basic 'sit down and eat your dinner' chair. More like a 'sit down and allow us to stick you with needles and forcefully pull your teeth out' sort of chair. It had a head holster, ankle clamps and what appeared to be shoulder harnesses and was positioned facing a large window with arguably one of the most beautiful views of a private bay from the jail.
Funny how that works.
Adjoining to this room, was a room filled entirely with thick, green uniforms - pants, coats, hats and shoes - all strewn about in piles with a single uniform still hanging on the wall.
Adjoining to that was a room full of rusty bed frames. And the back room was filled, almost entirely, with spools of fabric of some kind, cotton maybe.
Now, I couldn't find much information on the history of this jail from internet searches in English or Italian but I can only assume they were a part of some sort of sewing/textile industry. The prisoners way of helping society I suppose... In Ireland they chipped rock for the building of roads as well as made mailbags. Not too sure what Italy's prisons did but this one had something to do with pounds and pounds of cotton.
This common area was also the beginning of our version of "Choose your own adventure". It looked as if we had several floors going up as well as a dark staircase leading down. Cam had already explored the upper areas so clearly sauntering into the abyss was the most logical.
The first level had a few hallways of standard cells. Nothing too unexpected. But it also had an interesting room. *read: nightmarish*. It was extremely long with a bathroom on one end, a half wall in the middle and simple empty space at the far end. We're not too sure what the purpose of it was but we found a few empty shotgun shells at the entrance end. Whether they were remnants from when it was in operation or the leftovers of some Italians shooting around we don't know. But it was sufficiently creepy.
The second level had several halls of cells so we diligently walked down every corridor and in the third corridor we found... Please don't stifle your girlish squeals of excitement... Padded cells!
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I once owned a straightjacket that I thought was wildly entertaining. You may also know that I wished I had the opportunity to bounce around in a padded cell without being properly institutionalized. Who am I kidding, I would consider voluntarily checking myself in just for the chance. Well, looks like I won't have to now! I bounded and giggled to my hearts content in this one and I should be set for at least a few years time.
At the end of this corridor there was also a single room with an awfully suggestive bed. I'll leave you with that...
And the last room on this level appeared to be another common room of sorts with more rusty bed frames and some curious numbers written on the walls in red paint. Again, whether it's from the years of the prison or from Italian explorers, it's hard to say.
Now the third and final level also known as hell. This was the darkest level by far with the least amount of natural light sources as well as the creepiest collection of rooms and leftover marks. We needed a flashlight nearly the whole time and even then we had to stop and shed a few tears before pulling our shit together and wandering down the halls.
The windows here were double barred in the cells and the access to them was double locked. On top of that, more than one door had fingernail scratches on them.
This whole jail had Slender written all over it but this level was particularly terrifying. At the far end of the cells there was an empty room with a hole through the floor towards the back. There was a pipe running from top to bottom and It looked like it went about 15-20 feet down. Cam toyed with the idea of climbing down ... In the end, he didn't. I wasn't arguing that decision.
We then made our way from the bottom level all the way to the rooftop where the view was undeniably beautiful. You could see the fishing village of Procida, the bay of Napoli and Vesuvius as well as being surrounded by the sea.
We also found the records room which had several books of inmate names and dates of incarceration, the oldest we found was 1919. Of course, they were in Italian, so I can't say for sure what all the information was.
After having lunch in a room missing two walls looking over the sea in what seemed to be the oldest part of the prison we ventured back through the prison and made our escape. We walked alongside the guard towers once more before joining society again on the main streets.
Let me tell you, the level of accomplishment we felt was insurmountable. Being able to explore an abandoned prison that we had all to ourselves is a feeling that's hard to put into words. No tourists. No locals. Just us and the remnants of the past in our company. It was a once in a lifetime experience; one I won't soon forget.
We didn't know what state the interior was in or if it was even possible to find a way in but we decided we were going to get in regardless. When we came to the viewpoint, with the bay of Napoli straight ahead and the prison to our left, we turned to our skills learned from Assassins Creed and devised a plan.
Our best bet for entry was to climb over the fence then skirt along a narrow, slanted ledge and hop between a wall and a fence into a small decaying area that was approximately 8 feet x 8 feet. Now, keep in mind, except for a small 3 foot outcropping about 15 feet below us we were about 75 meters straight up from the sea...
Not the time to have a fear of heights!
Once in the little, square midpoint we had to climb along a decaying wall to get over to the other side. After I collapsed part of a wall climbing up and the other half climbing back down I was pretty skeptical about the whole thing. I decided to turn back because I couldn't make it to where Cam had climbed over... I was pretty worried that I would get injured. After about 30 minutes of waiting I skirted along the ledge and climbed back over to the viewing point. Cam had been gone for 45 minutes now and all I thought about was that a little fear stopped me from exploring an abandoned jail; something I've wanted to do for years. And then Cam came from the complete opposite direction that we had entered... He had found a new way in.
We walked through a blatantly open gate, down a long grassy area alongside guard towers, through a small gate and we were in.
Although I didn't feel like Ezio with this entrance I was finally in the jail without any broken limbs.
We explored through 3 levels of cells that were all in varying degrees of decay. The contrast of standing in a dingy cell, paint peeling off the walls while simultaneously staring out at a beautiful view of the sea and the town of Procida was staggering.
Sidenote: This was the approximate time that Cam and I began making a small tomahawk, for protection of course, using a stick, some wire & string as well as a glass shard. Yes. That happened.
After the 3 levels of cells we wandered through some outdoor walkways, in and out of a few small seemingly unimportant rooms and then into what seemed to be a large common area. It had extremely high ceilings, a common theme in all the common areas, and there were chairs and tables scattered throughout.
At the end of one of these adjoining rooms was a chair. Not a basic 'sit down and eat your dinner' chair. More like a 'sit down and allow us to stick you with needles and forcefully pull your teeth out' sort of chair. It had a head holster, ankle clamps and what appeared to be shoulder harnesses and was positioned facing a large window with arguably one of the most beautiful views of a private bay from the jail.
Adjoining to this room, was a room filled entirely with thick, green uniforms - pants, coats, hats and shoes - all strewn about in piles with a single uniform still hanging on the wall.
Adjoining to that was a room full of rusty bed frames. And the back room was filled, almost entirely, with spools of fabric of some kind, cotton maybe.
This common area was also the beginning of our version of "Choose your own adventure". It looked as if we had several floors going up as well as a dark staircase leading down. Cam had already explored the upper areas so clearly sauntering into the abyss was the most logical.
The first level had a few hallways of standard cells. Nothing too unexpected. But it also had an interesting room. *read: nightmarish*. It was extremely long with a bathroom on one end, a half wall in the middle and simple empty space at the far end. We're not too sure what the purpose of it was but we found a few empty shotgun shells at the entrance end. Whether they were remnants from when it was in operation or the leftovers of some Italians shooting around we don't know. But it was sufficiently creepy.
The second level had several halls of cells so we diligently walked down every corridor and in the third corridor we found... Please don't stifle your girlish squeals of excitement... Padded cells!
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I once owned a straightjacket that I thought was wildly entertaining. You may also know that I wished I had the opportunity to bounce around in a padded cell without being properly institutionalized. Who am I kidding, I would consider voluntarily checking myself in just for the chance. Well, looks like I won't have to now! I bounded and giggled to my hearts content in this one and I should be set for at least a few years time.
At the end of this corridor there was also a single room with an awfully suggestive bed. I'll leave you with that...
And the last room on this level appeared to be another common room of sorts with more rusty bed frames and some curious numbers written on the walls in red paint. Again, whether it's from the years of the prison or from Italian explorers, it's hard to say.
Now the third and final level also known as hell. This was the darkest level by far with the least amount of natural light sources as well as the creepiest collection of rooms and leftover marks. We needed a flashlight nearly the whole time and even then we had to stop and shed a few tears before pulling our shit together and wandering down the halls.
The windows here were double barred in the cells and the access to them was double locked. On top of that, more than one door had fingernail scratches on them.
This whole jail had Slender written all over it but this level was particularly terrifying. At the far end of the cells there was an empty room with a hole through the floor towards the back. There was a pipe running from top to bottom and It looked like it went about 15-20 feet down. Cam toyed with the idea of climbing down ... In the end, he didn't. I wasn't arguing that decision.
We then made our way from the bottom level all the way to the rooftop where the view was undeniably beautiful. You could see the fishing village of Procida, the bay of Napoli and Vesuvius as well as being surrounded by the sea.
We also found the records room which had several books of inmate names and dates of incarceration, the oldest we found was 1919. Of course, they were in Italian, so I can't say for sure what all the information was.
After having lunch in a room missing two walls looking over the sea in what seemed to be the oldest part of the prison we ventured back through the prison and made our escape. We walked alongside the guard towers once more before joining society again on the main streets.
Let me tell you, the level of accomplishment we felt was insurmountable. Being able to explore an abandoned prison that we had all to ourselves is a feeling that's hard to put into words. No tourists. No locals. Just us and the remnants of the past in our company. It was a once in a lifetime experience; one I won't soon forget.
