Arab Norman Palermo – Monreale

 Palermo, Sicily
Nov 162019
 

November 16, 2019


After the occupation of Palermo by the Arabs in 831 the Arabs transformed the Cathedral of Palermo into a mosque and banished the Bishop of Palermo.

Looking down on Palermo from Monreale

The Bishop was forced to move his seat outside the capital so he chose a small village in the hills overlooking Palermo, today Monreale.

Around 250 years later, in 1072, the Normans drove the Arabs from Sicily, establishing Palermo as their capital and re-consecrating the cathedral.

Standing at the back of the Apse

In 1174, in an act of piety, thanksgiving, and commemoration of the exiled Bishop of Palermo, King William II ordered the construction of a new church in Monreale, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Upon its completion in 1182, Pope Lucius III elevated the church to the status of Metropolitan Cathedral.

The cathedral of Monreale is one of the greatest extant examples of Norman architecture.

Thousands of years of feet trodding the marble inlaid floor has given it a fascinating wear pattern

A geometrical pattern of inlaid marble supports two lines of granite Corinthian columns that support the wooden ceilings above the nave.  Lancet arches span from column to column drawing the eye to the window-punctured clerestory with its over 21,000 square meters of gold mosaics representing biblical scenes, saints, kings, and angels.

Inlaid marble within the pilasters line the interior walls of the cathedral

The wooden ceiling of the nave

The panel to the far left is the Lord commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. The next panel is the Sacrifice of Isaac.

The Original Sin

Every inch of the walls are covered in mosaics telling stories from the Bible

A carved column within the Chapel of the Holy Crucifix

The Chapel of the Holy Crucifix is a small Baroque treasure chest off of a smaller nave on the left of the church.

The chapel was built by order of Giovanni Roano, the Spanish archbishop who led the dioceses of Monreale from 1673 to 1703.

Roano entrusted Giovanni di Monreale with designing the Chapel, which features decorations meant to resemble a symbolic symphony dedicated to the sacrifice of Jesus.

It is a wonder in the craft of marble.

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Sculpted marble curtains in the Chapel of the Holy Crucifix

Looking down into the Cathedral from a passageway that leads to the roof

Tuffa and black lava are used to ornament the exterior of the Cathedral

Looking down into the cloister from the roof

The cloisters were built in 1200 as part of the Cathedral abbey, they comprise 108 pairs of marble columns, a covered arcade of Arabic arches and a central quad. Every other pair of columns is decorated with unique mosaic patterns (no two are the same) and each is topped by a floral capital. It is an absolutely sublime space to inhabit.

An example of the many different capitals around the cloister:

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The fountain within the cloisters simply adds to its perfection.

Just some of the unique columns within the cloisters

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Looking back at the cathedral from the fountain in the cloisters

 

In 2015, Monreale was granted status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wandering Palermo With No Particular Place to Go

 Palermo, Sicily
Nov 152019
 

November 13, 2019

Folk Arts


Puppets became popular in Sicily during the fifteenth century, and marionettes are still considered an important part of Sicilian folk culture. Sicilian puppet theatre (opera dei pupi) or, more properly, “marionette theatre,” developed into its present form in the eighteenth century.

The marionettes themselves are made of wood and cloth with metal accouterments.  The puppets are carved, painted and decorated. Sets are painted in the Sicilian folk style with traditional colors, using canvas for the backdrops.

A marionette maker at his craft

Marionette Parts

 

The Porto Nuovo

The facade leading to the Corso Calatifimi and Piazza Indipendenza presents four big telamones depicting the Moors defeated by Charles V.

The Telemones (Roman)  or Atlas (European) figures

According to historians, the original gate was built in the 15th century. After Charles V’s conquest of Tunis, the Emperor came to Sicily. He entered Palermo through this gate on September 5th, 1535. In order to commemorate this event, the Senate of Palermo decreed to rebuild the gate in a grander style

The facade leading to the Cassaro has the typical style of the triumphal arches. The facade leading to the Corso Calatifimi and Piazza Indipendenza is ornamented with four big telamones depicting the Moors defeated by Charles V.

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Ornamentation under the Atlas figures

The Royal Gardens

Some form of garden was added to the Royal palace possibly as far back as the twelfth century and it simply refers to an area enclosed within the walls of the palace.  The garden one finds today at the Royal Palace was open to the public in June of 2018, contains a small restaurant and is a respite from the noise of the city.

Ornaments can be found around the garden and are coincidentally sold in the gift shop

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Open-Air Markets

These were taken in the Mercato della Vucciria, Palermo’s most famous market immortalized by Renato Guttuso in his painting La Vucciriea. There are two origins as to the name, some say it is a corruption of the french boucherie or butcher, while others suggest the name means the place of loud voices.

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Sicilian cuisine was strongly influenced by the Arabs, who added almonds, aniseed, apricots, artichokes, cinnamon, oranges, pistachio, pomegranates, saffron, sesame, spinach, sugarcane, watermelon and rice to the local palate. The Zibbibo grape used to make Passito di Pantelleria, the supreme Sicilian dessert wine, was also introduced by the Arabs.

For a wonderful rundown on the foods and flavors of Italy, please check out my travel mates blog here.

Fontana Pretoria

The Fontana Pretoria was built by Francesco Camilliani in the city of Florence in 1554 but was transferred to Palermo in 1574.

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Between the  18th century and 19th century, the fountain was considered a sort of depiction of the corrupt municipality of Palermo. For this reason and because of the nudity of the statues, the square became known as “Piazza della Vergogna” (Square of Shame).  The fountain was restored in 2003.

The fountain is surrounded by whimsical animals

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Quattro Canti

The Quattro Canti was laid out on the orders of the Viceroys between 1608-1620 by Giulio Lasso and Mariano Smiriglio, standing at the crossing of the two principal streets in Palermo, the Via Maqueda and the Corso Vittorio Emanuele.

The piazza is octagonal, four sides being the streets; the remaining four sides are Baroque buildings, the near-identical facades of which contain fountains with statues of the four seasons, the four Spanish kings of Sicily, and of the patroness saints of Palermo, (Christina, Ninfa, Olivia, and Agata). The facades onto the interchange are curved, and rise to four floors; the fountains rise to the height of the second floor, the third and fourth floors contain the statues in niches. At the time the piazza was built, it was one of the first major examples of town planning in Europe.

Walking the Streets

There Is No Border Here -as attested to in several languages

Hand made in any language

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The student band of the Teatro Massimo parading through town on a Saturday

A cat atop a car standing guard

The universal form of transport

Putti atop a fence post

One of four eagles atop the Palazzo delle Aquile (eagle), now the town hall built in the 16th century but radically altered in the 19th.

Sant’Orsola

Skulls adorn the Chiesa de Sant’Orsola inside and out

“Death is real, people shouldn’t be afraid of it, it’s not the end but a new life in the arms of God!” – The Church

Inside Sant’Orsola one can find many skeletons

That’s why in the fifteenth century popular institutions, such as hospitals or orphanages, began to call on artists to create frescos and paintings about death. Images were the only way to transmit ideals, especially in places where people were unable to read.

Saint’Orsola was built in the early 17th century by the society of St Ursula, known as Dei Negri because of the dark habits the members wore during processions. The late Renaissance façade is decorated with figures of souls in Purgatory and angels. Three skulls lie on the architrave.

Teatro Massimo

Designed by the well-known Italian architect Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile, Teatro Massimo was constructed ten years after its design was approved. Construction began in 1874 on the site of a former monastery and church. When Basile died in 1891, his son, Ernesto assumed responsibility for completing the structure.

Dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II, the Teatro Massimo is the largest opera house in Italy and third-largest in Europe after the Palais Garnier in Paris, and the K. K. Hof-Opernhaus in Vienna.

Galleria delle Vittorie

Built by the Municipality of Palermo, the Galleria delle Vittorie opened in 1935, during Fascist Italy. It was built in the style of other shopping arcades in the country at the time.  It sat empty starting in the 1970s until a bar opened on the ground floor in 2018.  The roof is still open to the elements.

Vigili di Fuoco

The Vigili del Fuoco of Palermo was commissioned and completed at the height of the Fascist era in the 1930s.  It is an example of the Art Deco aesthetic that  Il Duce tended to favor in building his New Rome.

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Palermo is Italian to its bones, but before that, it is Sicilian. It is beautiful and alive and absolutely mesmerizing.

While staying in Palermo I stayed at the wonderful Hotel Palazzo Brunaccini.  I would recommend it for the location, the staff and the sheer pleasure of staying there.  I would also recommend the restaurant, where my friend Susan took a cooking class with the wonderful Chef, Carlo Napoli.  You can read about her class, the Ballaro Market and the charming Carlo Napoli here.

Wandering the Historical Sites of Palermo

 Palermo, Sicily
Nov 142019
 

November 14, 2019

The Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

St. Catherine’s of Alexandria has a bakery that is worth finding for one’s first stop in the morning. The church is a synthesis of Sicilian Baroque, Rococo, and Renaissance styles.

In 1310 the last will of the rich Benvenuta Mastrangelo created the foundation of a female monastery under the direction of the Dominican Order.

Chancel: at the top the fresco “The Soul in glory rises to Heaven” by Antonio Filocamo and Paolo Filocamo.

In Alexandria, Catherine was an erudite virgin of royal lineage who objected to Emperor Maxentius’ calling for a grand festival in honor of the pagan gods.

Maxentius summoned fifty pagan philosophers to debate Catherine, but she prayed for God’s assistance, and the philosophers lost the debate, converted to Christianity, and were martyred in what Catherine assured them was a Baptism by Fire.

Maxentius then promised that Catherine could be his co-ruler if she recanted, but she refused, saying she was a bride of Christ. So Maxentius had her whipped and imprisoned. After twelve days Maxentius once again offered Catherine her life if she recanted, but this time death if she persisted. She refused, so he had an engine with spiked wheels built to frighten her into submission. She prayed and an angel destroyed the engine, which is why she is often shown with the wheel as her icon. In the end, the emperor had her beheaded.

In the Vault: Triumph of Saint Catherine by Filippo Randazzo

Just some of the magnificent marble work in Saint Catherine’s of Alexandria

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For a long time, the architecture was attributed to Giorgio di Faccio. However, more recent studies show the involvement of architects like the Florentine Francesco Camilliani and the Lombard Antonio Muttone.

St. Catherine’s was considered one of the primary monasteries of Palermo; the nuns came from noble families and professed the rule of San Domenico. In 1532, due to the increasing number of nuns, the church of San Matteo was purchased by the monastery to enlarge the building. In the seventeenth century, the monastery had become one of the most important in the city for wealth and occupied an entire block. The monastery suffered damages both during the movements of 1848 and 1860 and during the bombings of 1943. The last nuns left the monastery in 2014.

Stairs leading to the Terrace with its views of the city. The passageway allows one to view the top of the vault

The top of the main vault of the church is made of clay tiles set with mortar

Some of the pastries that can be found at Saint Catherine’s of Alexandria:

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Palazzo Chiaramonte -Steri

Built in 1307, the Chiaramonte Palace was the residence of the powerful Sicilian lord Manfredi II Chiaramonte. After his death, the palace went through many hands such as the Aragonese-Spanish viceroys followed by the Sicilian Royal, but today it is notorious mostly for the period when it was used by the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition from 1600-1782.

Today the University of Palermo owns the building and tours are given, primarily to view the graffiti left behind by prisoners of the inquisition.

In 1906 the famous anthropologist Giuseppe Pitrè discovered prisoners drawings in three cells. Restoration on these cells, removing whitewash from the graffiti walls, began in 2005.

Twenty-one percent of the eight thousand people interrogated in the palazzo were women, accused of being witches, often by their husbands. The graffiti in these rooms is usually of women.

On the left is a reference to Dante’s Inferno. In the mouth, one can find the words: “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate”, most frequently translated as “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

Just one of the many pieces of graffiti found in the cells

The hole in the wall is a toilet, and this graffiti would not have been seen by the guards. It shows an inquisitor on a defecating horse.

Inscription criticizing the inquisitors’ duplicity at the Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri.

A poem found on one of the walls described how the prisoners were faring:

Cavuru e fridu sintu ca mi piglia
La terzuru tremu li vudella
Lu cori e l’alma s’assuttiglia

(Standard Italian)
Sento freddi e caldo, mi ha preso
La febbre malarica,
Mi tremano le budella,
Il cuore e l’anima si rimpicciolicono

I feel hot and cold, I have
Malaria
My stomach trembles
My heart and soul are fading

The prison writings provide a unique insight into the inquisition in Sicily; many were signed and dated by their authors. Unfortunately, the prison archive was burned in 1783 on the orders of the Viceroy Caracciolo, who sought to conceal the inquisitors’ activities.

Santa Maria dello Sapsimo

The Apse

The construction of Santa Maria dello Spasimo (or swoon of Santa Maria) and its accompanying monastery began in 1509 with monies from Julius II, on land bequeathed by Giacomo Basilicò, a lawyer and the widower of a rich noblewoman.

What would have been a transept

The church was never completed because of the rising Turkish threat in 1535, where resources meant for the church were diverted to fortifications of the city against any possible incursions.

Even in its unfinished states, Lo Spasimo shows the late Gothic style architecture that permeated building practices in Palermo at the time as well as the Spanish influence in the city.

A walkway within the compound

Arab-Norman Palermo

 Palermo, Sicily
Nov 132019
 

November 13, 2019

The Arabs influenced the island is in its cuisine, its dialect, its tastes and, its architecture.

It was a singular movement that encompassed three diverse styles under the architectural umbrella of the Romanesque: Norman, Arab, Byzantine. And it is not a question of a single monument but several.

Norman-Arab was a unique style, part of a multicultural experiment that lasted several centuries.  Norman-Arab architecture with its Byzantine touches distinguished it from slightly similar styles in Moorish-Visigothic Spain.

It began in the late 1070s, with large parts of Sicily (including Palermo) under Norman control. Following the decisive battle of Palermo in the early days of 1072, the conquerors decided to keep the best of Byzantine and Arab culture.

Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio

Sicily’s eleventh-century infrastructure was far more advanced than that of Saxon England. The architecture of the Byzantine Greeks and Saracen Arabs was sophisticated, sturdy and beautiful.

The Norman architects simply embellished it, adding arches and columns, and combining elements which, until the twelfth century, were rarely found together beyond Constantinople, Alexandria or Baghdad.

Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio. A mosaic, taken from the original Norman façade, depicts King Roger II, George of Antioch’s lord, receiving the crown of Sicily from Jesus.

The king was Christian but there was, as yet, no “official” religion. Muslims, Christians, and Jews enjoyed equality of freedom of worship, laws were published in several languages, and the streets were full of Greek-speaking Byzantines, Arab-speaking Saracens (Moors) and the occasional Norman or Lombard.

July 3rd, 2015 the World Heritage Committee placed these properties on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio on the left and the red domed Church of San Cataldo

Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio

The Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio

Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio is also known as the Martorana and the Co-Cathedral of St. Mary of the Admiral. The name Ammiraglio (“admiral”) derives from the founder of the church, the Greek admiral and principal minister of King Roger II of Sicily, George of Antioch. In 1184 the Arab traveler Ibn Jubayr visited the church, and later devoted a significant portion of his description of Palermo to its praise, describing it as “the most beautiful monument in the world.” After the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, the island’s nobility gathered in the church for a meeting that resulted in the Sicilian crown being offered to Peter III of Aragon.

The foundation charter of the church (which was initially Eastern Orthodox), in Greek and Arabic, is thought to date to 1143

Later additions to the church include the Baroque façade.

Certain elements of the original church, in particular, its exterior decoration, show the influence of Islamic architecture on the culture of Norman Sicily. A frieze bearing a dedicatory inscription runs along the top of the exterior walls; although its text is in Greek, its architectural form references the Islamic architecture of North Africa. The recessed niches on the exterior walls also derive from the Islamic architectural tradition.

The altar of Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio

The church is renowned for its spectacular interior, which is dominated by a series of 12th-century mosaics executed by Byzantine craftsmen.

A series of wooden beams at the base of the dome, in the interior, bears a painted inscription in Arabic; the text is derived from the Christian liturgy (the Epinikios Hymn and the Great Doxology).

A mosaic of Christ in the dome in the Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio

Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio

A small piece of the marble work throughout Church of Santa Maria Dell’Ammiraglio

Church of San Cataldo

The Church of Saint Cataldo was once the chapel of a palace built in 1160 by Majone di Bari, admiral of King William I. The plan of the church shows the predilection of the Normans for simple and severe forms, derived from their military formation.

The exterior wall is of solid sandstone with carved arches of Islamic influence. On the top are three red domes.

The interior is made up of a central nave and two adjacent aisles divided by columns. It is an extraordinary example of Arabic art used in a Christian context.

The building was later given to the Benedictine Monks of Monreale who kept it until 1787. In 1882, after a long series of different uses, including a period as a post office, the chapel was completely restored by Giuseppe Patricolo.

The floor of The Church of San Cataldo

The Palermo Cathedral

The cupola is Baroque and added in the late 1700s by Ferdinando Fuga. The Towers with their lancet windows were added to the 12th century Norman clock tower in the 14th and 15th centuries.

 

Palermo Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo As an architectural complex, it is characterized by the presence of different styles, due to a long history of additions, alterations, and restorations, the last of which occurred in the 18th century.

One end of Palermo Cathedral at night. The exterior of the apse is one of the best-preserved parts of the original design.


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The main façade, connected with arcades to the Archbishops’ Palace

The church was erected in 1185 by Walter Ophamil. The upper orders of the corner towers were built between the 14th and the 15th centuries, while in the early Renaissance period the southern porch was added. The present neoclassical appearance dates from the work carried out over the two decades 1781 to 1801.

On a pillar on the right-hand side of the entry is an inscription that dates to the Islamic rule of Sicily when the site on which the cathedral now stands housed the Great Mosque of Bal’harm (the Arab name for the Palermo). The inscription is a verse from the seventh Surah of the Quran:

“Your Lord is God; He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself on the Throne. The night overtakes the day, as it pursues it persistently; and the sun, and the moon, and the stars are subservient by His command. His is the creation, and His is the command. Blessed is God, Lord of all beings.”

The Royal Palace and the Palatine Chapel

The interior courtyard of the Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace of Palermo (11th-12th centuries) is the main monument to represent the wealth and political and cultural power of the Norman kingdom, it is a model of Arab-Norman architecture.

The exterior over the entry door to the Palatine Chapel

The Palatine Chapel was commissioned by Roger II of Hauteville, who arrived in Sicily from the Scandinavian regions in the early 12th century and was crowned King of Sicily on December 25th, 1130, after uniting all the prior Norman conquests in south Italy.

The side aisles illustrate images related to the stories of the New Testament from the Acts of Apostles. They do not follow any specific chronological order but revolve around Saint Peter and Saint Paul to whom the church is dedicated

Built upon a former existing church, the dates of construction are uncertain.  The first documentation, dated 1132 refers to the elevation of the church but the drum of the dome dates to 1143.

The ceiling is a unique piece of artwork. Muqarnas decorations were previously seen in Muslim architecture in North Africa, but this ceiling is unique in that it is made entirely of joined wood, not carved.

The church later became the Royal family’s private chapel.  Numerous restorations have occurred over time, especially on the painted ceilings and the mosaics.

The dome rests on a massive cylindrical drum.

Eight prophets hold antique paper scrolls with verses of Greek ancient prophecies. The figure of Christ Pantokrator, a very refined piece Byzantine artwork, stands in the center. The circle around the image of christ reads “The sky is my throne, and the earth is the footstool for my feet.” Four angels and four archangels surround the main figure of christ each of them with the name written in Greek.

In 1458 John II of Aragon commissioned some restoration work, and more was undertaken in the first half of the 18th century.

The rear wall of the nave one sees the Redeemer and on his side the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, with two angels above.

This beauty of this building is a direct result of  Byzantine mosaic artists and Islamic carpenters working side by side.

In this semi-dome is another figure of Christ Pantocrator with the right-hand blessing according to the Latin ritual and the left hand holding the open Gospel with inscriptions in Greek and Latin “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” Below him is Mary (added in the 17th century)

The Paschal Candelabrum is one of the most valuable pieces of artwork in the chapel. It consists of three aggregated blocks that create one whole piece. The bottom section contains scenes of a typical Romanesque medieval bestiary. The highest part shows figures of Telemons (Atlas figures). The most important part is in the center where a sculpture depicting a Christ seated on the throne inside of an almond. To his left, the sculpture of a figure kneeled down and wearing a crown is often identified as King Roger II.

Church of San Giovanni Degli Eremiti

The garden area around the Church of San Giovanni Degli Eremiti

The church’s origins date to the 6th century.  Later, after the Islamic conquest of Sicily, it was converted into a mosque. After the establishment of the Norman domination of southern Italy, it was returned to the Christians by Roger II and named St. John’s of the Hermit.

The cloister is the best-preserved part of the ancient monastery. It has small double columns with capitals decorated by vegetable motifs, which support ogival arches. It also includes an Arab cistern.

The dome of the church

The church is notable for its brilliant red domes, which show clearly the persistence of Arab influences in Sicily at the time of its reconstruction in the 12th century, the Arab-Norman culture. However, the red color of the domes is not original, they were restored at the end of the nineteenth century by an architect who found pieces of red plaster on the domes and therefore decided to paint all the domes in red.

Ponte dell’Ammiraglio
The Admirals Bridge


The Admirals Bridge was built circa 1132 over the Oreto River and is the oldest stone bridge built after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.

The bridge is entirely built with stone, remarkable for its size, and extraordinary for its time. The bridge was named for its builder, Giorgio di Antiochia, admiral of the kingdom in the service of King Roger II.  Antiochia also founded the church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio.

The bridge has the characteristic “donkey back” configuration, with two symmetric ramps over seven ogival arch spans.

According to a legend, the bridge is situated in the place where the Archangel Michael appeared to the Norman Count Roger I of Sicily helping him to conquer Palermo, at that time an Islamic bastion.

The bridge was repeatedly damaged by the Oreto’s overflow. Attempts had been made as far back as  1775 to divert the river. It was diverted into canals in 1938.

Zisa Palace

The construction of the Moorish Zisa Palace was begun in the 12th century by Arabian craftsmen for King William I of Sicily and completed by his son William II. It was built as a summer residence.

The name Zisa comes from the Arab term al-Azīz, meaning “dear” or “splendid”.

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Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo

 Palermo, Sicily
Nov 122019
 

November 12, 2019

Interestingly, the best way to get an understanding of the size of the catacombs is from this painting done in 1883 by Calcedonia Reina titled Love and Death.   Reina (1842 – 1911) was an Italian painter and poet. He is described as having a melancholic and neurasthenic temperament in life and art.

The Capuchin Catacombs are a dichotomy.  Everywhere there are signs that the place is a holy area and should be respected, therefore no photographs.  And yet, it is a macabre tourist attraction that belies any form of respect.

The ridiculous thing about no photographs is that they are all over the internet, especially on Flickr and Instagram, showing that hundreds of people simply ignore the rule and the concept of respect.

All photos in this post are from the internet, this author does have respect for the sanctity of an institution such as these catacombs.


Palermo’s Capuchin monastery outgrew its original cemetery in the 16th century and so the monks began to excavate crypts. Mummification, apparently began in 1599 when the monks interred brother Silvestro of Gubbio, into the catacombs.

The form of mummification the brothers practiced was to dehydrate the bodies on racks of ceramic pipes (which can be seen stacked here and there in the catacombs) Some were washed with vinegar.  Not all of the bodies were embalmed, some were simply sealed in glass cabinets.Monks were preserved with their everyday clothing and sometimes with ropes they had worn as a penance.

The catacombs were intended for the friars, but later it became a status symbol to be placed in the Capuchin catacombs.  The wealthy would ask to be preserved in certain items of clothing, or even to have their clothes changed on a regular basis.  Priests were interred with their clerical vestments, and others, as seen in the photographs, in the fashion of the time.   Relatives paid to have their dear departed tended, however, if payment did not arrive the bodies were put on a shelf until payments were received.


Burials stopped in the 1920s and the last to be interred was a two-year-old little girl named Rosalia Lombardo.  Her embalming procedure was very different.  Carried out by Professor Alfred Salafia, she was embalmed with formalin to kill bacteria, alcohol to dry the body, glycerin to keep her from drying out and salicylic acid to kill fungi.  Apparently his addition of zinc salts to give the body rigidity was what stood his formula apart. Rosalia’s body is so well preserved that she simply appears to be sleeping. There are many photos of sweet Rosalia on the internet, this author has no intention of showing her here.

The whitewashed and very wide halls are divided into categories: Men, Women, Virgins, Children, Priests, Monks, and Professionals. There was a time when coffins were made available to the families of the deceased so that on certain days the family could hold their hands “join” the family in prayer.


In 2007 the Sicily Mummy Project was created to study the mummies. The mummies are X-Rayed and given CT scans, along with other anthropological and paleopathological techniques to confirm the age and sex of the individuals.

Visiting the catacombs is not for the squeamish, but it is a fascinating look into the way that our view of death is forever changing.  There is a 3 Euro charge for entry.

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