Ncopp' i ccruci

The coasts of Monte di Procida, among the most beautiful of the Phlegrean neighborhood, illuminated by the sun and made healthy by the sea air, have been privileged places by ancient populations since the most remote times. This area was cultivated thanks to the intervention of religious bodies that favored the peasants who already knew the promontory. The coast of the promontory was initially preferred especially for the vine, as it is shown by the countless rural environments that were used especially for wine making. The district "Ncopp' i ccruci" is located in the northeast of Monte di Procida. The toponym was given to it at the beginning of the '900s, when the Passionist missionaries placed, in various points of the district, some iron crucifixes in memory of their passage. It includes the localities of Monte Grillo, piazza san Giuseppe, il Cercone.

Montegrillo is the panoramic terrace on the Phlegraean Fields from which it is possible to admire the Gulf of Naples, the entire coast of the Sorrentine peninsula and the Campanian archipelago. In most of the Plegraean Fields were found traces of civilizations lived in the Neolithic; these territories were chosen for residential settlements since ancient times.

Montegrillo, also called "the area of the promontory of the Phlegraean Fields", is also called "the coast" for the cultivation of vine with the terracing system on the sea. Here there is a type of sparsely inhabited area, with rural buildings of tuff called “cellai” (kind of cells). The first cells date back to 1400. They are typical farmhouses with vaulted roof and entrance with thick wooden doors, with or without fortified windows in iron grids, these first buildings were used as a shelter for instruments and tools for the winemaking and pantry of agricultural products.

It is particular its architectural variety; the room used as a cellar, the cell, was partially buried, to avoid the temperature changes that could compromise the maintenance of agricultural products. The “wolf mouth shaped” openings allowed the constant maintenance of internal temperatures. Subsequently these cells became the homes of the peasants and often, behind the structure, they were built small overlapping rooms with vaults and external stairs.