Mummification is an ancient practice and one that in Sicily has especially taken root. If you’re not easily impressionable, and have a certain inclination for the macabre, head to Palermo where you can see what is perhaps the best manifestation of this tradition: the Capuchin Catacombs.
The Capuchin Catacombs originated in the 16th century at the Church of Santa Maria della Pace. When the church's common grave was no longer big enough to contain all of their brothers, the friars decided to build a larger cemetery, which would be underground under the major altar (any burial place underground was defined as a ‘catacomb’). When the friars recovered the dead bodies from the common grave, they discovered that 45 of them had preserved perfectly – they had mummified naturally.
They saw it as a sign of God’s benevolence and thus decided to no longer bury those bodies but display them standing inside niches along the walls of the first hall of the Catacombs.
The pretty incredible discovery of the 45 mummified bodies was a sensation and, with time, what was supposed to be the private cemetery of the friars became a public one as more and more regular people asked the friars to be mummified, with the idea of preserving their bodies after death, and the possibility for family members to still see and talk to a loved one. In 1783, the friars started offering the burial in the catacombs to all those who could afford the embalming practice and the catacombs expanded.
From the 17th to the 19th century, thousands of people, mostly Sicilian nobles and illustrious people, entrusted their bodies to the friars and became exposed inside the Capuchin Catacombs, which today you can visit (if you still want to visit them, that is).
The cemetery was closed in 1880, with the exception of two mummifications carried out in the early 20th century, one of them being that of a two-year-old child, Rosalia Lombardo, known as the "most beautiful mummy in the world".
The Capuchin Catacombs are open every day, 9 am to 1 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm. Entry fee €3. They are located on Piazza Cappuccini 1. For more information, visit http://www.palermocatacombs.com/.
