Thousands of mummified Palermitans dressed in their best clothes
Beneath the Capuchin convent, on the edge of the old city, lie some of the most unsettling and fascinating places in Italy. From the late sixteenth century the friars discovered that the conditions of the crypts naturally mummified bodies, and burial here became a privilege sought by the Palermitan elite until 1880.
Today about 8,000 bodies and skeletons line the corridors, standing, lying or hanging along the walls, divided by category: men, women, children, priests, professionals, virgins. They wear their clothes, from eighteenth century dress to nineteenth century frock coats. The most famous is Rosalia Lombardo, a two-year-old girl who died in 1920 and was embalmed so perfectly that she seems asleep.
Tip: photography is forbidden, and the visit can be disturbing for sensitive people and young children; it takes about half an hour.
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