November 2nd, Day of the Dead: the most evocative cemeteries in Italy

Sand yesterday was a day of celebration, that of All Saints, today, however, is a day of commemoration: the November 2in fact, according to the Catholic tradition, It’s the “Day of the Dead”. In many countries, including Italy, this day is a moment of reflection and prayer in memory of loved ones who are no longer with us and tradition dictates that we visit the tombs of missing family members, light candles and pray for the souls of the deceased.

November 2, a moment of reflection on those who are no longer here

The celebration may vary from country to countrydepending on culture and religion, but in general, it is a time to honor and remember those who have passed, but who, although they are no longer present in body, will forever be present in spirit.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a moment of sadness and neither does going to the cemetery, a place now considered, especially in the case of some, an open-air museum full of sculptures and monuments created by very important artists and where absolute celebrities rest. Of course there is a bit of melancholy among those paths immersed in greenery and silence, but cemeteries are also places where personal memories mix with collective ones and merge with each other.

The most evocative cemeteries to visit

And so if al Père-Lachaise in Paris rest in peace, among others, Marcel Proust, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Sarah Bernhardt, Delacroix and Chopin; if a Highgate in London houses the remains of Karl Marx, George Elliot and Michael Faraday, if atHollywood Forever Cemetery in California Jayne Mansfield and Rudolph Valentino are found, Italy certainly isn’t far behind.

November 2, the Campo Santo is an open-air museum

Our country is full of evocative cemeteries that are very interesting to visit for their history, art and architecture.

There is the Monumental Cemetery of Milan, known for its majestic sculptures and funerary monuments. An ambitious work designed by Carlo Maciachini and inaugurated in 1866, in which the mix of styles ranging from Gothic to Byzantine to Romantic is evident. Here are welcomed, among a thousand others, the illustrious tombs of Alessandro Manzoni, Arturo Toscanini And Giorgio Gaber. The grandiose reproductions of Greek and Egyptian temples are flanked by modern art sculptures created by artists such as Giò Ponti, Arturo Martini, Lucio Fontana And Giò Pomodoro.

Among the most beautiful cemeteries in Italy is Verano in Rome

Not least is the Verano monumental cemetery in Rome, a true city of the dead, an island of greenery and marble surrounded by the city of the living, a burial place so large that there are buses to visit it. There are many illustrious personalities who rest in these parts, including: Vittorio Gassman, Alberto Sordi And Sibilla Aleramo. But also Trilussa, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Gianni Rodari, Alida Valli, Maria Montessori, Ettore Petrolini, Rino Gaetano, Ferruccio Amendola and Nanni Loy.

In Genoa between Mazzini and De André

In Genoa, there is the Staglieno Monumental Cemetery a jewel also for its position on the hill and for the sculptures and works of art it houses in its gardens, designed by the architect Carlo Barabino. Above all the Angel by Giulio Monteverde but there is also a copy of the Pantheon. Here they rest Giuseppe Mazzini, Fabrizio De André, Fernanda Pivano and Edoardo Sanguineti.

The mysterious caves under the Materdei hill in Naples

In the heart of Naples in the Sanità district there is the Fontanelle Cemeteryknown for its mysterious, excavated underground caves under the Materdei hill, used for the burial of thousands of people. Here the women of the people adopted a skull (the capuzzella) and prayed so that the anonymous deceased (“pezzentella” soul as it was abandoned) would pass from Purgatory to Paradise.

November 2nd between Florence and Venice

TO Florence There is the San Miniato al Monte Cemetery where in total quiet and wandering among its decorated tombs and frescoed chapels, you can also enjoy an incredible panoramic view of the city of Florence. TO Venice There is the San Michele Cemeterya true cemetery island where the deceased were brought in funerary gondolas created when during the Austrian occupation it was forbidden to bury the deceased under pavement in the city center as happened until the 19th century.

Bologna, Palermo and Messina

The Certosa Cemetery to Bologna, built starting from the 14th century, closed by Napoleon with the famous Edict of Saint Cloud in 1804 and reopened in the early 1900s, was a stop on the Grand Tour of young Europeans throughout the 18th century. Here Giosuè Carducci rests next to Ottorino Respighi and Lucio Dalla. To the Saint Ursula Of Palermo, also known as Camposanto di Santo Spirito, also rests Father Pino Puglisi and Giovanni Falcone. While another true treasure chest of memories and art is the Great Cemetery of Messinvery rich in neoclassical and liberty architecture.

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