Catacombe dei Cappuccini

The story

The catacombs lie beneath the Capuchin convent in piazza Cappuccini. In 1599 the friars laid to rest here the body of Brother Silvestro of Gubbio, found well preserved after burial, and from then on the place became the community’s cemetery.

In the 17th and 18th centuries Palermo’s wealthier families asked to be admitted: the bodies, dried in special cells and then dressed in the clothes chosen in life, were arranged in the corridors by category, with separate sections for men, women, clergy, professionals and children. Burials continued throughout the 19th century, with a few later exceptions.

The last is Rosalia Lombardo, who died in 1920 at the age of two and was embalmed by Alfredo Salafia; her body remains almost intact.

Why it is worth it

You go down and walk among hundreds of people who chose to remain visible: period clothes, name tags, faces that time has altered in different ways. This is not a horror attraction but a place of memory, where Palermo kept its dead close to the living. Notice the details of the clothing and the hands, and pause for a moment before Rosalia, with the respect you would ask for your own.