"Today me, tomorrow to you,
Mummies in Italy
Venzone (Friuli Venezia Giulia)
In 1647 during the extension work of the Cathedral came to light twenty mummified bodies. 
The preservation of bodies is due to the combined action of the subsoil, rich in calcium sulfate, and the presence of a fungus with high capacity dewatering, the hyphae Bombicina People, in this way the bodies were quickly parchment . five mummies are now on display in the crypt of the Baptistery of San Michele and provide a wealth of invaluable anthropological interest to know the lifestyle of the inhabitants of Friuli of centuries past.
La mummia del nobile Daniello Gattolini di anni 75, salma esumata nel 1811.
Il fenomeno fu attribuito a una muffa, la Hipha bombicina, presente nel sottosuolo della chiesa e capace di assorbire l'umidità dei tessuti dei corpi in modo da essicarli nel giro di un anno, evitandone la decomposizione. Lo studio del fenomeno ebbe sviluppo e rilievo internazionali grazie anche a un ammiratore d'eccezione delle mummie: l'imperatore Napoleone che – come racconta Guido Clonfero, memoria storica di Venzone – nel 1807, tornato in Friuli dopo le campagne del 1797, volle vederle da vicino. E i suoi soldati, come avevano già fatto dieci anni prima accanendosi soprattutto sul Gobbo, tagliuzzarono quelle epidermidi incartapecorite portandosi via altri pezzi o pezzetti come souvenir! I ritrovamenti di salme mummificate continuarono nella seconda metà dell'800 e, nonostante i saccheggi, ne rimasero 22 in mostra fino al 1976. I meno giovani ricordano benissimo quegli scheletri ricoperti con un bianco perizoma "schierati" in semicerchio nell'aula del battistero. Collocati in piedi nelle boards of glass, had almost all the plate with your name, or a partial indication of how noble, priest, mother and daughter ... Until 1976 there was the visitor who does not ask to see them. The earthquake caused the collapse of May 6 the former baptistery, known as the chapel of St. Michael, dating back to 1250, and after a month there was a group of Canadian soldiers who offered to dig to extract those mangled corpses. Some had gone to pieces, but a large proportion (15 out of 22) were saved. For some time the survivors were exposed in a tin box, but quell'esibizione raised many perplexities so precarious that the pastor decided to put them waiting for better times.
What time they arrived. The layout is completely changed: now the 15 mummies are on display in the crypt of San Michele (the upper chapel is back). Five, the most representative, are placed in sturdy glass urns and other laid in two rows of drawers, open, kind Morgue. Three men and two women (the distinction is purely theoretical: the cartilaginous mass you do not see big "differences" so that the superfluous skirt has been properly removed).
excel, noblesse oblige, the unnamed Gobbo, the dean, if I may say, of the group. This would be an exponent of the Scala family: his corpo fu ritrovato sotto un sarcofago del 1300 con lo stemma della nobile famiglia veronese. «Ma non era gobbo – spiega monsignor Bertossi, che è parroco di Venzone dal 1983 – la malformazione è successiva alla deposizione nel sarcofago, probabilmente troppo piccolo per lui. La Tac, effettuata di recente, ha stabilito che aveva invece problemi di artrosi e che è morto a circa 45 anni. Gli studiosi si aspettano molto dagli esami medico-scientifici avviati dal professor Gaspare Baggieri, del Servizio antropologico e paleopatologico del ministero dei Beni culturali, ai quali saranno sottoposte anche le altre mummie, considerate nel complesso «un patrimonio genetico di inestimabile valore». Tra quelle esposte nelle urne, due hanno nome and last name (this is the noble Paul Marpillero 73, exhumed in 1770, and Gattolini Daniello, 75, exhumed in 1811) and the other two are a mother and a daughter unknown. Pending the imminent opening to the public - already in prennunciata nice guide museums and collections in the province of Udine, recently released by Giuseppe Bergamini - you are completing the work of security for access to the crypt, which will happen automatically with the 'insertion of coins (cost 2000 pounds each and will be available in newsstands and tobacco shops, in addition to the Pro site). Other articles relate to the cathedral next: they must still be arranged copies of the statues on the main facade (the originals, such as those lunettes of beautiful, they are placed inside) and it must be remade and completed the rehabilitation of churchyard some walls to protect against water seepage. But there is another novelty. Concluded the excavations started in '88, in the near future will be open - just for study purposes, or of archaeological interest - the basement of the cathedral with the remains of the current pre-existing churches, which was consecrated in 1338 by Patriarch Bertrand: that of 1251 and the even earlier, at the end of the sixth century.
Palermo
Capuchin Catacombs ..
The convent is known worldwide for its presence in the basement of a vast cemetery, which attracts the curiosity of many tourists, and since the last century must see the Grand Tour (visited by Guy de Maupassant).
The tunnels were dug at the end of '500 and form a large rectangular cemetery.
were never inventoried the bodies found there, but it is estimated that the figure should reach about 8,000.
The mummies, in standing or lying down, fully dressed, are divided by gender and social category, even though most of them belong to upper classes, because the embalming process was expensive. In the various sectors are recognized: the prelates;
merchants and bourgeois in their clothes, "Sunday"; army officers in gala uniform, young virgins, who died before he could marry her, dressed in their wedding dress ; family groups placed high up on shelves, separated by thin railings similar to the balconies, children, etc..
The method of embalming process involves first of all to "drain" the body for about a year, after having removed the internal organs.
Therefore the body more or less dried up, was washed with vinegar, filled with straw, and covered with his clothes. Other methods, used especially in times of epidemics, called for a bath of arsenic or lime water.
Colonels Ragona and Giuliano
Rosalia Lombardo (1920)
The macabre spectacle of countless corpses on display is the fleeting nature of food for thought life, the vanity of earth, men and futility of attachment to their external features.
What most strikes the visitor is the method used by the monks for the preservation of corpses. Since that method at that time so common that none of the authors who were once occupied the cemetery has seen fit to bring in their writings. The first to speak was Charles Gaston, in his book "Journey in Sicily" in 1828.
He briefly describes the method given in his writings that the corpses were placed in a room, lying down or sitting and locked the door never to leave the smell stayed for a period of about a year, so opening found themselves whole and intact.
In seguito in un verbale redatto dopo un’ispezione del Senatore della città di Palermo, Federico Lancia di Brolo si rileva che i cadaveri non più di 8 – 10 venivano introdotti in una stanza, distesi sopra una grata fatta di tubi di terracotta e chiuse ermeticamente le porte, vi restavano per un periodo di circa otto mesi un anno.
In seguito venivano trasportati in un luogo ventilato coperto con tettoia, dove, venivano lavati e ripuliti con acqua ed aceto, quindi rivestiti e collocati nella casse di legno o nelle nicchie lungo i corridoi. Rimanevano li solo se i parenti andavano a trovarli e portavano loro la cera per tre anni consecutivi altrimenti venivano rimossi così come prevedeva l’articolo 41 del regolamento emanato dal municipio di Palermo nel 1868.
In periodi di gravi epidemie, per la conservazione, si usava immergere i cadaveri in un bagno di arsenico o di latte di calce ed è questo il metodo utilizzato per il cadavere di Antonio Prestigiacomo riconoscibile dal colorito rossastro.
Fu pure adottato il metodo a base di farmaci inventato dal dottor Salafia del quale si sconosce il procedimento usato (news qui); tale trattamento fu adoperato per il cadavere della piccola Rosalia Lombardo morta il 6 dicembre 1920. 
Da diciture minutes you know that the body was transported to the cemetery because Dr. Solaf proceed embalming, only to be buried elsewhere. But Dr. Solaf started the process could not complete it because of his untimely death and the causal events of the family of the girl's little body has remained at the foot of the altar today, mostly in Santa Rosalia.
Ferentillo (Terni)
The Museum is a museum of mummies located Ferentillo that exposes the ancient mummies of the villagers.
The museum was created in the late nineteenth century, when excavations in the crypt of the old village church has brought forth a number of mummified bodies, some with well-preserved clothing. But today, the incoming moist air from the windows it has affected the state of preservation, both the housing and the mummies themselves.
The museum is open only on certain days.
(In the opening theme of the film Nosferatu, Prince of the night with Klaus Kinski is shown a glimpse of the museum.)
Before a Napoleonic edict — l'editto di Saint Cloud — che trasferì il cimitero al di fuori del paese, i morti venivano seppelliti all'interno della chiesa di Ferentillo situata nella parte di paese chiamata Precetto.
Si conosce la storia solo di alcune delle mummies and the information is drawn from oral histories and research in the archives of the Church.
Particular rehabilitation concerns the mummies of two Asian (recognizable by the characteristic features).
The legends tell of a rich man and his wife, probably Chinese, on their honeymoon in Italy in the period when Europe was plagued by the scourge of the Plague, after being sick, Ferentillo died, were buried in the village church. The legend is supported by the presence of their clothes in good condition until the seventies.
The land of the crypt was analyzed in an attempt to obtain reliable data to strengthen the assumptions made about why the bodies have been mummified, but the reason some have not been identified, but later attempts at mummification process with bodies animals, which revealed the rapid process of mummification of the land of the crypt. [citation needed] that seems to mummify a mummy is a bacterium that dehydrates the body.
The Museum is located under the church of Santo Stefano in the lower country, namely, the right river. The church is easily recognizable by the clock located on the bell tower. The
chiesa di Santo Stefano risale al 1200, venne adibita a cimitero nel 1500 quando la chiesa nuova fu costruita sopra quella vecchia. Le visite, accompagnate da una guida si possono effettuare in questi orari: 9,30-12,30 di mattina, 14,30-18,30 nel pomeriggio. L'ingresso costa £.4.000.
Il cimitero è scavato nella roccia viva del monte. Fino al 1871 qui vennero sepolti gli abitanti del paese, dopo questa data un editto ne proibì la sepoltura. Per uno stranissimo fenomeno
fisico-chimico prodotto da microrganismi presenti nel terreno all'interno del cimitero i cadaveri non imputridiscono ma si mummificano naturalmente, senza bisogno di intervento umano.
There are small windows, this allows us to always keep the cemetery well ventilated, then factor that affects the natural mummification. The skin dries on the dead body inside of which all organs are still intact.
Lying in glass cases we find the bodies, each of which tells its story, there is a Napoleonic soldier hanged himself, Chinese young couple died of cholera after a trip to Rome, the lawyer of the country killed with a knife a girl died in childbirth with her child when born ...
In the bottom of the cemetery are a hundred of skulls placed on the tables to form a macabre backdrop to the cave.
Inside the cemetery you can not take pictures, but there are two booklets with photos and documents that can be acquired by asking the guide.
In one of these guides will talk about two other places in Italy where is this particular phenomenon, one is in a Capuchin monastery near Palermo, the other is in Friuli in the village church of Venzone del Friuli .
Cagliari
Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography
Savoca (Sicily)
remains of mummified bodies belong to all cultures and has long been studied in terms of historical, archaeological, anthropological and paleopathological as cultural heritage in its broadest sense, it's cultural heritage, so to speak, 'abnormal' findings because they are not in the ordinary meaning of the term, but the remains of bodies that are naturally preserved, or, for particular reasons of religious, ritual, social underwent conservative treatment, each of them is "a" good "person who was once, which was later assigned the task under the facies of a mummy, to testify himself and his own, albeit illusory continuing presence in the world. "
They document not only us sull'immaginario collettivo circa la vita oltre la morte biologica, sulle tecniche di conservazione dei corpi, sulla storia delle pratiche sociali, del costume, della moda, ma anche sull’aspetto medico, sulle cause di morte, sull’incidenza delle malattie nel passato. Tali informazioni sono utili per capire non solo in che modo si affrontava e si « viveva » la malattia nelle popolazioni trascorse, ma anche di comprendere gli aspetti più complessi della vita sociale: la presenza o l’assenza di patologie specifiche, il loro impatto sulla speranza di vita, sull’età di morte di individui, gruppi o persone, oltre alla complessa problematica della qualità della vita nelle popolazioni antiche. I risultati, degli Paleopathology studies also allow to obtain an enormous amount of information on the diseases of past centuries, can not only illuminate fundamental aspects of life for people, so far poorly documented, but also to search for information useful to combat existing diseases; these results have also to anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians to paleopathology scientific data to address some specific disciplinary issues still unresolved. The interesting results that are the subject of this communication have emerged during the detailed research on a sample of 17 mummies placed in the crypt of the Capuchin Monastery of Savoie.
La cripta, a pianta rettangolare, di m 14 x 4,25, longitudinalmente orientata da Est ad Ovest, è ubicata al di sotto del piano pavimentale della terrazza antistante la chiesa del Convento. Per comodità di lettura, ho indicato i quattro lati perimetrali con le lettere A, B, C, D (Figura 1). Sulle pareti interne s’innestano alcune nicchie a fondo semicircolare con copertura ad arco (39 in tutto) di cui 17 lungo la parete A, 7 nella B, 15 nella C. Nella parete D, che funge da abside, si erge un altare. Antistante all’abside, sotto il pavimento, è ubicato un ossario. Lungo tutto il perimetro, si innesta una cornice, su cui sono poggiate 9 casse lignee, di cui 4 sovrapposte. Al di sopra delle nicchie, sfalsate compared to the same, are made as many niches, some of which exhibit human skulls. Only the niches in the wall A, (16 out of 17), containing the mummies of high priests, nobles and notables, the rest are empty. Other mummies are housed in glass cases or coffins variously placed on the floor.
The number of mummies which houses the crypt is unknown. At present, in fact, you can not define it precisely, since their position is the result of an approximate arrangement made between the fifties and sixties, for a clumsy attempt to exploit as a tourist attraction. In the minimal hypothesis, is certainly likely that 17 mummies were placed in niches, in feet, 5 in glass cases, 11 in coffins, variously placed within the same crypt. In some rearrangement kept in the vaults of the mummies were moved into the niches left empty because of product deterioration by time and neglect. The operation, undesirable from the point of view of culture, often done in an approximate way, in some cases forcing you to force the bodies within the space of niches, or tied in a rudimentary way because they were standing, would last for decades. Currently, adding to the 16 bodies of the niches, the 5 stored in glass cases and 12 should be contained in the coffins, mummies, the total would be 33. But it is certainly less than the sum of the respective chambers, since a number of cases are definitely empty. It should be added that some names printed on scrolls made, the last arrangement relates, sometimes to people that have never existed or some names are non-existent, still others are from families of people buried in doubt other churches Savoca.
There is no historical information about mummification practices carried out by the Capuchin intentional about their deceased brethren, but certainly that was practiced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, until 1876. Indeed, despite the 7 July 1866 had been enacted by the young Kingdom of Italy, the suppression orders, congregations and religious corporations, with its seizure of assets and their allocation to the State of the State [8], the Capuchin Monastery of Savoca, also if deprived of all legal and public property, he continued to perform its function and to practice mummification, as indicated by the presence of at least two mummies belonged to individuals who have died after that date [9].
As the technique used to speed up the process of mummification, there are no contemporary historical sources that speak of the handling of the bodies, lack of news even if such treatment is never was applied. The sources document instead of several requests for right of burial upon payment of a sum of money as compensation or for celebrations of the rite delegated to the Convent in various occasions [10].
some information about places, how and when to mummification of the corpses are instead from unpublished writings of scholars of the place, like that of Father Basil Gugliotta [11], post-mummification itself, which draw on oral tradition, although not You can compare with the results of scientific studies conducted on the mummies, which is currently almost non-existent.
examination of the local architecture of the crypt of the Cathedral Church of Savoca, is that it was practiced in the "draining" of the corpses, using the technique widespread in southern Italy. The direct examination has also found other forms of treatment of the corpses by evisceration and decerebralizzazione.
Created at the beginning of '600 in the basement of the church and the convent dell'antistante square, contains 37 mummified corpses belonging to noble nobles, lawyers, priests, monks, abbots, doctors, poets, judges and three children, all members of the aristocracy that was Savoca. The oldest mummy dates back to 1776, and belongs to the noble Peter Salvadore, most recently in 1876 and belongs to Joseph Trischitta.
Nicholas Toscano Mint
†?
Noble, secular
Artificial Mummification
Good
?
†? Lay
Flask
Good
Nicotine Joseph (senior?)
† 1795
Ecclesiastical
Flask
Good
Antonio Garufi
†? Ecclesiastical
Flask
Discreet
Friar Bernardo Limina
† 1777
Ecclesiastical
Flask
Precarious
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
Altadonna Baron (?)
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
Garufi Vincenzo
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
Cacopardo (?)
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Discreet
Marcello Procopio
† 1844
Ecclesiastical
Flask
Good
Myron Joseph (?)
†?
notables, lay
Flask
Good
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Precarious
Marco Fleres Trischitta † 1852
Noble, secular
Good
Michele Trimarchi
†?
Noble, secular
?
†? Ecclesiastical
AS
† 1871?
tracks (only femurs)
John plucking
†?
?
Vincenzo Trischitta
† 1862
Noble, secular
John Patti
† 1853
skeletonized
The bodies are covered in elegant vintage clothing show and give of themselves in niches and in coffins in which they are enclosed.
Urbania (Marche)
Church of the Dead
I was what you are, you will
what I am.
think that your mortal end, this
and thinks that this will be soon. "
what I am.
think that your mortal end, this
and thinks that this will be soon. "
Mummies in Italy
Venzone (Friuli Venezia Giulia)
In 1647 during the extension work of the Cathedral came to light twenty mummified bodies. 
The preservation of bodies is due to the combined action of the subsoil, rich in calcium sulfate, and the presence of a fungus with high capacity dewatering, the hyphae Bombicina People, in this way the bodies were quickly parchment . five mummies are now on display in the crypt of the Baptistery of San Michele and provide a wealth of invaluable anthropological interest to know the lifestyle of the inhabitants of Friuli of centuries past. La mummia del nobile Daniello Gattolini di anni 75, salma esumata nel 1811.
Il fenomeno fu attribuito a una muffa, la Hipha bombicina, presente nel sottosuolo della chiesa e capace di assorbire l'umidità dei tessuti dei corpi in modo da essicarli nel giro di un anno, evitandone la decomposizione. Lo studio del fenomeno ebbe sviluppo e rilievo internazionali grazie anche a un ammiratore d'eccezione delle mummie: l'imperatore Napoleone che – come racconta Guido Clonfero, memoria storica di Venzone – nel 1807, tornato in Friuli dopo le campagne del 1797, volle vederle da vicino. E i suoi soldati, come avevano già fatto dieci anni prima accanendosi soprattutto sul Gobbo, tagliuzzarono quelle epidermidi incartapecorite portandosi via altri pezzi o pezzetti come souvenir! I ritrovamenti di salme mummificate continuarono nella seconda metà dell'800 e, nonostante i saccheggi, ne rimasero 22 in mostra fino al 1976. I meno giovani ricordano benissimo quegli scheletri ricoperti con un bianco perizoma "schierati" in semicerchio nell'aula del battistero. Collocati in piedi nelle boards of glass, had almost all the plate with your name, or a partial indication of how noble, priest, mother and daughter ... Until 1976 there was the visitor who does not ask to see them. The earthquake caused the collapse of May 6 the former baptistery, known as the chapel of St. Michael, dating back to 1250, and after a month there was a group of Canadian soldiers who offered to dig to extract those mangled corpses. Some had gone to pieces, but a large proportion (15 out of 22) were saved. For some time the survivors were exposed in a tin box, but quell'esibizione raised many perplexities so precarious that the pastor decided to put them waiting for better times.
What time they arrived. The layout is completely changed: now the 15 mummies are on display in the crypt of San Michele (the upper chapel is back). Five, the most representative, are placed in sturdy glass urns and other laid in two rows of drawers, open, kind Morgue. Three men and two women (the distinction is purely theoretical: the cartilaginous mass you do not see big "differences" so that the superfluous skirt has been properly removed).
excel, noblesse oblige, the unnamed Gobbo, the dean, if I may say, of the group. This would be an exponent of the Scala family: his corpo fu ritrovato sotto un sarcofago del 1300 con lo stemma della nobile famiglia veronese. «Ma non era gobbo – spiega monsignor Bertossi, che è parroco di Venzone dal 1983 – la malformazione è successiva alla deposizione nel sarcofago, probabilmente troppo piccolo per lui. La Tac, effettuata di recente, ha stabilito che aveva invece problemi di artrosi e che è morto a circa 45 anni. Gli studiosi si aspettano molto dagli esami medico-scientifici avviati dal professor Gaspare Baggieri, del Servizio antropologico e paleopatologico del ministero dei Beni culturali, ai quali saranno sottoposte anche le altre mummie, considerate nel complesso «un patrimonio genetico di inestimabile valore». Tra quelle esposte nelle urne, due hanno nome and last name (this is the noble Paul Marpillero 73, exhumed in 1770, and Gattolini Daniello, 75, exhumed in 1811) and the other two are a mother and a daughter unknown. Pending the imminent opening to the public - already in prennunciata nice guide museums and collections in the province of Udine, recently released by Giuseppe Bergamini - you are completing the work of security for access to the crypt, which will happen automatically with the 'insertion of coins (cost 2000 pounds each and will be available in newsstands and tobacco shops, in addition to the Pro site). Other articles relate to the cathedral next: they must still be arranged copies of the statues on the main facade (the originals, such as those lunettes of beautiful, they are placed inside) and it must be remade and completed the rehabilitation of churchyard some walls to protect against water seepage. But there is another novelty. Concluded the excavations started in '88, in the near future will be open - just for study purposes, or of archaeological interest - the basement of the cathedral with the remains of the current pre-existing churches, which was consecrated in 1338 by Patriarch Bertrand: that of 1251 and the even earlier, at the end of the sixth century. Palermo
Capuchin Catacombs ..
The convent is known worldwide for its presence in the basement of a vast cemetery, which attracts the curiosity of many tourists, and since the last century must see the Grand Tour (visited by Guy de Maupassant).
The tunnels were dug at the end of '500 and form a large rectangular cemetery.
were never inventoried the bodies found there, but it is estimated that the figure should reach about 8,000.
The mummies, in standing or lying down, fully dressed, are divided by gender and social category, even though most of them belong to upper classes, because the embalming process was expensive. In the various sectors are recognized: the prelates;
merchants and bourgeois in their clothes, "Sunday"; army officers in gala uniform, young virgins, who died before he could marry her, dressed in their wedding dress ; family groups placed high up on shelves, separated by thin railings similar to the balconies, children, etc.. 
Brother Silvestro of Gubbio
The method of embalming process involves first of all to "drain" the body for about a year, after having removed the internal organs.
Therefore the body more or less dried up, was washed with vinegar, filled with straw, and covered with his clothes. Other methods, used especially in times of epidemics, called for a bath of arsenic or lime water.
Colonels Ragona and Giuliano
Rosalia Lombardo (1920)
The macabre spectacle of countless corpses on display is the fleeting nature of food for thought life, the vanity of earth, men and futility of attachment to their external features.
Monsignor Francesco D'Agostino
Department of Virgins
What most strikes the visitor is the method used by the monks for the preservation of corpses. Since that method at that time so common that none of the authors who were once occupied the cemetery has seen fit to bring in their writings. The first to speak was Charles Gaston, in his book "Journey in Sicily" in 1828.
He briefly describes the method given in his writings that the corpses were placed in a room, lying down or sitting and locked the door never to leave the smell stayed for a period of about a year, so opening found themselves whole and intact. 
In seguito in un verbale redatto dopo un’ispezione del Senatore della città di Palermo, Federico Lancia di Brolo si rileva che i cadaveri non più di 8 – 10 venivano introdotti in una stanza, distesi sopra una grata fatta di tubi di terracotta e chiuse ermeticamente le porte, vi restavano per un periodo di circa otto mesi un anno.
In seguito venivano trasportati in un luogo ventilato coperto con tettoia, dove, venivano lavati e ripuliti con acqua ed aceto, quindi rivestiti e collocati nella casse di legno o nelle nicchie lungo i corridoi. Rimanevano li solo se i parenti andavano a trovarli e portavano loro la cera per tre anni consecutivi altrimenti venivano rimossi così come prevedeva l’articolo 41 del regolamento emanato dal municipio di Palermo nel 1868. 
In periodi di gravi epidemie, per la conservazione, si usava immergere i cadaveri in un bagno di arsenico o di latte di calce ed è questo il metodo utilizzato per il cadavere di Antonio Prestigiacomo riconoscibile dal colorito rossastro.
Fu pure adottato il metodo a base di farmaci inventato dal dottor Salafia del quale si sconosce il procedimento usato (news qui); tale trattamento fu adoperato per il cadavere della piccola Rosalia Lombardo morta il 6 dicembre 1920. 
Da diciture minutes you know that the body was transported to the cemetery because Dr. Solaf proceed embalming, only to be buried elsewhere. But Dr. Solaf started the process could not complete it because of his untimely death and the causal events of the family of the girl's little body has remained at the foot of the altar today, mostly in Santa Rosalia. Ferentillo (Terni)
The Museum is a museum of mummies located Ferentillo that exposes the ancient mummies of the villagers.
The museum was created in the late nineteenth century, when excavations in the crypt of the old village church has brought forth a number of mummified bodies, some with well-preserved clothing. But today, the incoming moist air from the windows it has affected the state of preservation, both the housing and the mummies themselves.
The museum is open only on certain days.
(In the opening theme of the film Nosferatu, Prince of the night with Klaus Kinski is shown a glimpse of the museum.)
Before a Napoleonic edict — l'editto di Saint Cloud — che trasferì il cimitero al di fuori del paese, i morti venivano seppelliti all'interno della chiesa di Ferentillo situata nella parte di paese chiamata Precetto.
« Oggi a me, domani a te,
io ero quel che tu sei,
tu sarai quel che io sono.
Pensa mortal che la tua fine è questa
e pensa che ciò sarà ben presto. »
(Iscrizione all'entrata del museo)
io ero quel che tu sei,
tu sarai quel che io sono.
Pensa mortal che la tua fine è questa
e pensa che ciò sarà ben presto. »
(Iscrizione all'entrata del museo)
Si conosce la storia solo di alcune delle mummies and the information is drawn from oral histories and research in the archives of the Church.
Particular rehabilitation concerns the mummies of two Asian (recognizable by the characteristic features).
The legends tell of a rich man and his wife, probably Chinese, on their honeymoon in Italy in the period when Europe was plagued by the scourge of the Plague, after being sick, Ferentillo died, were buried in the village church. The legend is supported by the presence of their clothes in good condition until the seventies.
The land of the crypt was analyzed in an attempt to obtain reliable data to strengthen the assumptions made about why the bodies have been mummified, but the reason some have not been identified, but later attempts at mummification process with bodies animals, which revealed the rapid process of mummification of the land of the crypt. [citation needed] that seems to mummify a mummy is a bacterium that dehydrates the body.
The Museum is located under the church of Santo Stefano in the lower country, namely, the right river. The church is easily recognizable by the clock located on the bell tower. The
chiesa di Santo Stefano risale al 1200, venne adibita a cimitero nel 1500 quando la chiesa nuova fu costruita sopra quella vecchia. Le visite, accompagnate da una guida si possono effettuare in questi orari: 9,30-12,30 di mattina, 14,30-18,30 nel pomeriggio. L'ingresso costa £.4.000.
Il cimitero è scavato nella roccia viva del monte. Fino al 1871 qui vennero sepolti gli abitanti del paese, dopo questa data un editto ne proibì la sepoltura. Per uno stranissimo fenomeno
fisico-chimico prodotto da microrganismi presenti nel terreno all'interno del cimitero i cadaveri non imputridiscono ma si mummificano naturalmente, senza bisogno di intervento umano.
There are small windows, this allows us to always keep the cemetery well ventilated, then factor that affects the natural mummification. The skin dries on the dead body inside of which all organs are still intact.
Lying in glass cases we find the bodies, each of which tells its story, there is a Napoleonic soldier hanged himself, Chinese young couple died of cholera after a trip to Rome, the lawyer of the country killed with a knife a girl died in childbirth with her child when born ...
In the bottom of the cemetery are a hundred of skulls placed on the tables to form a macabre backdrop to the cave.
Inside the cemetery you can not take pictures, but there are two booklets with photos and documents that can be acquired by asking the guide.
In one of these guides will talk about two other places in Italy where is this particular phenomenon, one is in a Capuchin monastery near Palermo, the other is in Friuli in the village church of Venzone del Friuli .
Cagliari
Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography
Savoca (Sicily)
remains of mummified bodies belong to all cultures and has long been studied in terms of historical, archaeological, anthropological and paleopathological as cultural heritage in its broadest sense, it's cultural heritage, so to speak, 'abnormal' findings because they are not in the ordinary meaning of the term, but the remains of bodies that are naturally preserved, or, for particular reasons of religious, ritual, social underwent conservative treatment, each of them is "a" good "person who was once, which was later assigned the task under the facies of a mummy, to testify himself and his own, albeit illusory continuing presence in the world. "
They document not only us sull'immaginario collettivo circa la vita oltre la morte biologica, sulle tecniche di conservazione dei corpi, sulla storia delle pratiche sociali, del costume, della moda, ma anche sull’aspetto medico, sulle cause di morte, sull’incidenza delle malattie nel passato. Tali informazioni sono utili per capire non solo in che modo si affrontava e si « viveva » la malattia nelle popolazioni trascorse, ma anche di comprendere gli aspetti più complessi della vita sociale: la presenza o l’assenza di patologie specifiche, il loro impatto sulla speranza di vita, sull’età di morte di individui, gruppi o persone, oltre alla complessa problematica della qualità della vita nelle popolazioni antiche. I risultati, degli Paleopathology studies also allow to obtain an enormous amount of information on the diseases of past centuries, can not only illuminate fundamental aspects of life for people, so far poorly documented, but also to search for information useful to combat existing diseases; these results have also to anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians to paleopathology scientific data to address some specific disciplinary issues still unresolved. The interesting results that are the subject of this communication have emerged during the detailed research on a sample of 17 mummies placed in the crypt of the Capuchin Monastery of Savoie. 
La cripta, a pianta rettangolare, di m 14 x 4,25, longitudinalmente orientata da Est ad Ovest, è ubicata al di sotto del piano pavimentale della terrazza antistante la chiesa del Convento. Per comodità di lettura, ho indicato i quattro lati perimetrali con le lettere A, B, C, D (Figura 1). Sulle pareti interne s’innestano alcune nicchie a fondo semicircolare con copertura ad arco (39 in tutto) di cui 17 lungo la parete A, 7 nella B, 15 nella C. Nella parete D, che funge da abside, si erge un altare. Antistante all’abside, sotto il pavimento, è ubicato un ossario. Lungo tutto il perimetro, si innesta una cornice, su cui sono poggiate 9 casse lignee, di cui 4 sovrapposte. Al di sopra delle nicchie, sfalsate compared to the same, are made as many niches, some of which exhibit human skulls. Only the niches in the wall A, (16 out of 17), containing the mummies of high priests, nobles and notables, the rest are empty. Other mummies are housed in glass cases or coffins variously placed on the floor.
The number of mummies which houses the crypt is unknown. At present, in fact, you can not define it precisely, since their position is the result of an approximate arrangement made between the fifties and sixties, for a clumsy attempt to exploit as a tourist attraction. In the minimal hypothesis, is certainly likely that 17 mummies were placed in niches, in feet, 5 in glass cases, 11 in coffins, variously placed within the same crypt. In some rearrangement kept in the vaults of the mummies were moved into the niches left empty because of product deterioration by time and neglect. The operation, undesirable from the point of view of culture, often done in an approximate way, in some cases forcing you to force the bodies within the space of niches, or tied in a rudimentary way because they were standing, would last for decades. Currently, adding to the 16 bodies of the niches, the 5 stored in glass cases and 12 should be contained in the coffins, mummies, the total would be 33. But it is certainly less than the sum of the respective chambers, since a number of cases are definitely empty. It should be added that some names printed on scrolls made, the last arrangement relates, sometimes to people that have never existed or some names are non-existent, still others are from families of people buried in doubt other churches Savoca.
There is no historical information about mummification practices carried out by the Capuchin intentional about their deceased brethren, but certainly that was practiced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, until 1876. Indeed, despite the 7 July 1866 had been enacted by the young Kingdom of Italy, the suppression orders, congregations and religious corporations, with its seizure of assets and their allocation to the State of the State [8], the Capuchin Monastery of Savoca, also if deprived of all legal and public property, he continued to perform its function and to practice mummification, as indicated by the presence of at least two mummies belonged to individuals who have died after that date [9].
As the technique used to speed up the process of mummification, there are no contemporary historical sources that speak of the handling of the bodies, lack of news even if such treatment is never was applied. The sources document instead of several requests for right of burial upon payment of a sum of money as compensation or for celebrations of the rite delegated to the Convent in various occasions [10].
some information about places, how and when to mummification of the corpses are instead from unpublished writings of scholars of the place, like that of Father Basil Gugliotta [11], post-mummification itself, which draw on oral tradition, although not You can compare with the results of scientific studies conducted on the mummies, which is currently almost non-existent.
examination of the local architecture of the crypt of the Cathedral Church of Savoca, is that it was practiced in the "draining" of the corpses, using the technique widespread in southern Italy. The direct examination has also found other forms of treatment of the corpses by evisceration and decerebralizzazione.
Created at the beginning of '600 in the basement of the church and the convent dell'antistante square, contains 37 mummified corpses belonging to noble nobles, lawyers, priests, monks, abbots, doctors, poets, judges and three children, all members of the aristocracy that was Savoca. The oldest mummy dates back to 1776, and belongs to the noble Peter Salvadore, most recently in 1876 and belongs to Joseph Trischitta.
Pietro Salvatore
† 1776?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
?
†? Ecclesiastical
Flask
Good
† 1776?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
?
†? Ecclesiastical
Flask
Good
Nicholas Toscano Mint
†?
Noble, secular
Artificial Mummification
Good
?
†? Lay
Flask
Good
Nicotine Joseph (senior?)
† 1795
Ecclesiastical
Flask
Good
Antonio Garufi
†? Ecclesiastical
Flask
Discreet
Friar Bernardo Limina
† 1777
Ecclesiastical
Flask
Precarious
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
Altadonna Baron (?)
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
Garufi Vincenzo
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Good
Cacopardo (?)
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Discreet
Marcello Procopio
† 1844
Ecclesiastical
Flask
Good
Myron Joseph (?)
†?
notables, lay
Flask
Good
?
†?
Noble, secular
Flask
Precarious
Marco Fleres Trischitta † 1852
Noble, secular
Good
Michele Trimarchi
†?
Noble, secular
?
†? Ecclesiastical
AS
† 1871?
tracks (only femurs)
John plucking
†?
?
Vincenzo Trischitta
† 1862
Noble, secular
John Patti
† 1853
skeletonized
The bodies are covered in elegant vintage clothing show and give of themselves in niches and in coffins in which they are enclosed. Urbania (Marche)
Church of the Dead
And 'certainly one of the greatest museums
macabre to visit: mummies cemetery, enclosed within
of the Church of the Dead in Urbania.
The crypt behind the high altar,
18 mummified bodies are exposed course.
The story begins back in 1567 when in Urbania, then
Casteldurante, was founded the Brotherhood of the Good Death. " Under the
patronage of St. John the Beheaded, 120 people, lay and religious,
promulgated, along with Felt Cardinal Giulio della Rovere, the
statutes of the Brotherhood, composed of as many as 31 chapters. Purpose
accurate of the pious association was free transportation of dead bodies,
assistance to the dying and especially to justice, recording
in special books of the dead and the distribution of
alms to the relatives of the deceased. The burial of the bodies took place in the back of the small church, on land used as a cemetery.
In early 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte issued an edict (Saint Cloud) which established the suburban cemeteries
for health reasons. Also went in the little cemetery of Urbania work of exhumation of the bodies,
incredibly, resurface intact.
In 1833, the 18 mummified bodies were displayed behind the altar of the chapel which has since taken the name of
Church of the Dead. Only in the '60s and '70s, some anthropologists and biologists gave a scientific explanation of
phenomenon. It appears that a particular mold (hipha bombicina pers), caused its drying.
In practice the bodies, as well as the skeletal structure have skin, organs, and in some cases the hair, the genital organs ...
In addition, each of the 18 characters, events and stories of hiding surprising relevance. At the center of the group
the prior Vincenzo Piccini, his wife and son. A baker, two canons and the common people. Their stories are still alive, thanks to letters, archival documents and oral tradition: the Brotherhood of Death recorded birth and death of all. And most of all recorded violent deaths. The archives of the Bishop of Urbania is a mine of stories and old crimes.
The black cape and emblem of the death of Vincent Piccinni stand at the center of the sacristy in the Church of the Dead. The prior lies between those mummified bodies that so fascinated him in life. The first casket left his wife, Maddalena Gatti, and his son, also a pharmacist, died of cancer.
Only three of the fifteen mummies was possible to give a name. The most famous in the country was without a doubt the Lombardelli, said Lunano (sec. XVIII): era l’unico fornaio del paese.
Mariano Muscinelli (morto nel 1844) e Pierantonio Macci (morto nel 1847) in vita erano canonici. Muscinelli era un uomo taurino dalla grande gabbia toracica, un collo grosso e una bella pancia. Leggenda vuole che fosse un gran mangiatore. E la scienza ha confermato la leggenda: morì per eccesso di colesterolo.
Restano nell’anonimato le altre mummie. A cominciare da quella di una donna che morì di parto cesareo. Un’operazione crudele all’epoca, perché veniva praticata in extremis e salvava solo il nascituro. I cadaveri di altre due donne presentano delle malformazioni: una aveva un’anca lussata, l’altra era rachitica. E c’è un caso di morte for diabetes.
If you look carefully some of the bodies, you notice a few oddities: a skull or arm detached from the rest of the body, as if he belonged. Well, digging in the soil of the church, the brothers found fifteen mummies yes, but also a large number of skeletons and scattered limbs, without a body. Do not forget that the custom of keeping the body in the coffin was not there yet. For this reason, some mummies were found without head or without an arm. Driven by religious modesty, before exposing them to the bodies of the brothers 'reconstruction': bodies without heads or without arms would hurt too many feelings.
example is the body of a girl, who died around the age of eighteen: not his or the forearm or the skull.
The most shocking story is that of a man buried in a state of apparent death, the body stiffens, the temperature drops, you hear the heartbeat. Pulse and breathing stop. At that time, there was no requirement to wait 48 hours to bury the corpses, and so were buried immediately. But once the man wakes up under the earth: the air feels faint. Here is mustering all his strength. Dragging its feet, clenched his fists, the muscles of the calf and thigh muscles contract. Even today, the recess of the abdomen demonstrates the effort to fill with air. Si nota il rossore della pelle: vasi sanguigni e capillari, dilatandosi, si sono rotti e il sangue è affiorato alla pelle. La gola è contratta e sul viso è rimasto il riso sardonico: il ghigno del terrore e della pazzia. Ha la pelle del brivido, la pelle d’oca, accentuata sulla coscia sinistra. Proprio dove, nascosto dalla mano, c’è un graffio.
Da cornice, nell’insolito museo, si possono ammirare il lampadario fatto di ossa e teschi.
Quest’insolito museo attira ben oltre 13 mila visitatori all’anno, considerando che nel periodo invernale le visite si
effettuano soltanto due volte al giorno, rimanendo poi chiuso per l’intera giornata, è un dato davvero
interessante. Come d’interesse scientifico si può parlare per i tanti giornalisti e troupe televisive che
annualmente si occupano del cimitero delle mummie. Qualche anno fa una equipe medica seguita da uno staff
di tecnici televisivi arrivò dall’america per girare uno speciale documentario per il National Geographic.
Un ulteriore studio venne eseguito in loco dagli antropologi e medici statunitensi.
‘Dissero Muscinelli that Canon, one of the mummies, he certainly tells diabetes-Giuseppe Ducci,
historic guardian of the mummies at Urbana-acute forms of arthritis which are present in several mummies.
Among the probable causes of death of some bodies: pneumonia. X-rays, endoscopies and physiological analysis were
-place. The case of the woman buried alive and died of caesarean the team was not biased, but
their faces shone through a clear reservations about history related to the sad end of those two persons'.
are just some of the small news emerged that week of studies conducted by the National Geographic on
18 mummies, compared to those that emerged in the '70s and '80s.
Another advertisement for urban thanks to the cemetery of mummies can attract many tourists and visitors
, perhaps attracted by quell'inspiegabile taste for the macabre or the afterlife that both fascinates.
Siena
Santa Maria della Scala
In May 1999, during the archaeological survey work, sotto il pavimento della chiesa della Santissima Annunziata è riapparsa una cappella adibita a sepoltura situata sotto l'altare della tomba del mitico fondatore del Santa Maria della Scala, il beato Sorore, contenente tre corpi perfettamente conservati in seguito ad un processo di mummificazione naturale favorito dal microclima della minuscola cappella. Una scoperta sensazionale (in Italia sono non più di dieci le mummie "vestite" risalenti al '400 finora rinvenute) che ha suscitato l'interesse del mondo scientifico internazionale. Due corpi erano rimasti per 500 anni nelle loro rozze bare di legno, con una croce dipinta sul coperchio ed un rosario intorno ai fianchi; il terzo corpo era adagiato su di una delle due casse ed era vestito con the white habit of the Oblates. The facial features were clearly recognizable, as well as traces of wrinkles on the forehead, the perfectly preserved teeth. No doubt the identity of the two bodies placed inside the boxes, which are also still wearing the dress of burial and the parchment skin: it was Salimbene Capacci, Rector of the Hospital at the end of 1400 and his wife Margaret Sozzini. On the face of the woman forced her mouth looked like a cry in the toes and feet were tied with a ribbon because it does not move his legs. The identity of the third mummy was at the center of a small yellow (now resolved).
Discover three mummies is not the thing more common in the world. But to bring to light the basement of the church of a medieval hospital is more unusual than normal.
yet is what happened in May 1999 when the restoration of the chapel of the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena came to light three mummified bodies
.
It was a discovery in the true sense of the term, because the three bodies had done before, their reappearance in 1948.
On that occasion, however, the superintendent Peleus Bacci attributed to the three bodies of many names, family names and biographies. It
, stable, Salimbene Capacci, rector of the hospital died in 1497, his wife Margaret Sozzini (daughter of the famous Mariano jurist) who died in 1511 and the painter Lorenzo di Pietro said Vecchietta who had asked to be buried at that point of the church. At that time the bodies were mummified reassembled and resealed in their tombs for centuries.
back to light, was imposed by the Institution of Santa Maria della Scala, the need to know something more about the three bodies. They were put to work the team of anthropologists Francesco Mallegni, University of Pisa University of Siena and historians. All regular
Salimbene and Margaret. They were. Especially since the discovery of 1948 was preceded in turn by another discovery in 1678, when the card identity of the two mummies, a man and a woman, had been defined with certainty.
Two mummies, in fact. Why the third body was added later, as demonstrated with absolute clarity the report prepared on this occasion in front of the luminaries of science including Siena Pirro Maria Gabrielli. On that occasion there was no talk of a third mummy, and this already raised doubts about whether the third body was that of the Oldie.
fact could not be him. The written documentation certifying, without a shadow of a doubt that the bones (bones, not mummy) Vecchietta ossuary had been dug up and thrown municipality in 1714.
Then the third body whose was it?
History is made with the same methods of police investigation. We need to find somebody who was struck by the discovery of two bodies in 1678, that had such a self-esteem to feel himself to be worthy of treatment as that of the rector of the great as great rector, and had a role that, within Santa Maria della Scala, to afford to achieve his dream.
And in fact there was a suspect: Girolamo Macchi, who lived between 1648 and 1734, "foundlings" and then self-made man to be a writer more (a kind of controller of accounts of our day) and hospital Above all, present at the discovery of 1678 and so impressed by it by leaving multiple traces in all his numerous writings.
All clues lead to him. And the "American comparison" gave reason to the supposition.
The remains are those of the mummy of a man over eighty years (Macchi and died at 86) is the body of a dead man in the middle of summer (Macchi died in July) and had problems of atherosclerosis (Macchi asked to be relieved from 'assignment for this kind of problem) was wearing coins dating to the early decades of the 700 (he died in 1734), one of those coins depicting Saint Jerome (his holy name day).
Finally, deposits of Santa Maria della Scala was discovered a portrait that preserves the Enrico Toti-sector institution established to be the portrait of the Macchi.
Mallegni non ebbe dubbi: il corpo e il ritratto appartenevano alla stessa persona: erano entrambi di Girolamo Macchi.
L’attribuzione fatta a metà XX secolo si è, di fatto, dimostrata esatta per Salimbene e Margherita, come attesta un documento datato 1678, in base al quale sappiamo che le due salme, già mummificate, giacevano in quella sepoltura all’interno della chiesa. Del terzo corpo, però, nella relazione stilata in quell’occasione di fronte ad alcuni luminari della scienza senese, fra i quali Pirro Maria Gabrielli, non si faceva parola. Non si trattava quindi del Vecchietta, le ossa del quale, peraltro, ci dicono le fonti scritte, common ossuary was laid in 1714. In fact, the third "guest" of the tomb is, in all likelihood, Girolamo Macchi, who lived between 1648 and 1734, which came in the infant exposed as Santa Maria della Scala and then remained within the institution as major writers. Macchi had witnessed the discovery of 1678, as he says in his writings, and apparently he was so impressed by request, to death, to lie forever with these famous people. For him, abandoned child, it was a real social redemption.
The three mummies are back in their ancient burial, although without any clothes that will serve scholars for their research on clothing of the period. Now waiting to be displayed in an exhibition that will illustrate to the public the exceptional nature of these three findings.
Lodi
Museum Paolo Gorini
Paolo Gorini The collection is located in the heart of the Hospital Elder in the south cloister of the century, in a 'single-ceilinged room richly frescoed in 1593 by Giulio Cesare Ferrari, chapter house at the time as used by the friars who ran the hospital originally.
The anatomical and the two mummies are on display in special cases and each identified with a tag describing the characteristics of the didactic piece.
Three wall allow viewers to read the x-rays are performed on the corpse with the intent to explain the presence of the viscera and to indicate the routes of inoculation mummificanti liquids.
Museum Gorini no way wishes to present a collection of gruesome finds, but intends to inform the public of anatomical specimens, prepared by the illustrious researcher, as a means of disclosure of a scientific message, and the two mummified bodies such as an expression of spiritual Gorini to safeguard the human body from decay and corruption of death.
Figure singular, unique, Gorini is a tangible example of a lofty man of science, dedicated to the discovery, research and, both literally and metaphorically, to the pursuit of immortality. The small room where the museum has its head office manages in the best way to convey the deep meaning of his work, making palpable the sincere passion of the scientist Lodi in all its empirical experiences.
How warned by the exhibits, the mystery of death, which in almost maniacal always fascinated him, was for his work as an investigator constant challenge, the powerful opponent of a titanic struggle undertaken to avoid the corruption of the time the mortal man , petrified or reducing them to ashes just to avoid the destruction of their organic decomposition.
The atmosphere of the museum is very special, indescribable in its many aspects. Located in a relatively dark corner of an ancient cloister, dimly lit by those rays of sunshine that illuminate the entire remainder of the yard, the sight is revealed only after traveling a long porch surrounded by total silence and the constant shade and, approaching the entrance to the museum, it is impossible not to be affected by a vague sense of alienation from almost awareness to attend a "show" out of time, fell into a unique dimension where past and present merge and interpenetrate.
nondescript glass door is the entrance to the chamber of wonders, the last gate before attending to what is left, not much unfortunately, dell'amplissima anatomical collection, which was able to prepare in Gorini course of his life.
The initial impact is quite staggering: the environment relatively small, almost overwhelming, the lack of lighting from cold neon lights, ceiling frescoes, the remains of anatomically arranged in such a way that disporsi evenly throughout the room and, above all, the two human mummies placed near the center of the museum left stunned by creating an indefinable sense of discomfort. The impression is that of being in front of a macabre collection of anatomical remains and animal-wonders (in a glass case, between a large petrified toad and a snake, it strikes just the little white two-headed mummy of a mouse) and only after passing the initial surprise, supported by the presence of excellent explanatory tables, one begins to understand the majesty of the work of Gorini. 
Carefully observing the exhibits (impossible not to be affected by small bodies, some visibly deformed children died at a very young age) you can be fully accountable for the highest value of the scientist. The very successful
petrification of body parts, hands, brain and genitalia in particular, but also an entire human nervous system and a horribly deformed spine, almost obsessive presence of the stuffed heads of some farmers Lodi nineteenth century (the work of 
Gorini is so well done that some of these still have a beard and a shaggy head of hair almost "live") and the two mummified remains impressive unfold in the eyes of attentive as magnificent instrument of science, tangible expressions of a moral and spiritual which had as main objective the preservation of the body from corruption and the destruction caused by death.
macabre to visit: mummies cemetery, enclosed within
of the Church of the Dead in Urbania.
The crypt behind the high altar,
18 mummified bodies are exposed course.
The story begins back in 1567 when in Urbania, then
Casteldurante, was founded the Brotherhood of the Good Death. " Under the
patronage of St. John the Beheaded, 120 people, lay and religious,
promulgated, along with Felt Cardinal Giulio della Rovere, the
statutes of the Brotherhood, composed of as many as 31 chapters. Purpose
accurate of the pious association was free transportation of dead bodies,
assistance to the dying and especially to justice, recording
in special books of the dead and the distribution of
alms to the relatives of the deceased. The burial of the bodies took place in the back of the small church, on land used as a cemetery.
In early 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte issued an edict (Saint Cloud) which established the suburban cemeteries
for health reasons. Also went in the little cemetery of Urbania work of exhumation of the bodies,
incredibly, resurface intact.
In 1833, the 18 mummified bodies were displayed behind the altar of the chapel which has since taken the name of
Church of the Dead. Only in the '60s and '70s, some anthropologists and biologists gave a scientific explanation of
phenomenon. It appears that a particular mold (hipha bombicina pers), caused its drying.
In practice the bodies, as well as the skeletal structure have skin, organs, and in some cases the hair, the genital organs ...
In addition, each of the 18 characters, events and stories of hiding surprising relevance. At the center of the group
the prior Vincenzo Piccini, his wife and son. A baker, two canons and the common people. Their stories are still alive, thanks to letters, archival documents and oral tradition: the Brotherhood of Death recorded birth and death of all. And most of all recorded violent deaths. The archives of the Bishop of Urbania is a mine of stories and old crimes.
The black cape and emblem of the death of Vincent Piccinni stand at the center of the sacristy in the Church of the Dead. The prior lies between those mummified bodies that so fascinated him in life. The first casket left his wife, Maddalena Gatti, and his son, also a pharmacist, died of cancer.
Only three of the fifteen mummies was possible to give a name. The most famous in the country was without a doubt the Lombardelli, said Lunano (sec. XVIII): era l’unico fornaio del paese.
Mariano Muscinelli (morto nel 1844) e Pierantonio Macci (morto nel 1847) in vita erano canonici. Muscinelli era un uomo taurino dalla grande gabbia toracica, un collo grosso e una bella pancia. Leggenda vuole che fosse un gran mangiatore. E la scienza ha confermato la leggenda: morì per eccesso di colesterolo.
Restano nell’anonimato le altre mummie. A cominciare da quella di una donna che morì di parto cesareo. Un’operazione crudele all’epoca, perché veniva praticata in extremis e salvava solo il nascituro. I cadaveri di altre due donne presentano delle malformazioni: una aveva un’anca lussata, l’altra era rachitica. E c’è un caso di morte for diabetes.
If you look carefully some of the bodies, you notice a few oddities: a skull or arm detached from the rest of the body, as if he belonged. Well, digging in the soil of the church, the brothers found fifteen mummies yes, but also a large number of skeletons and scattered limbs, without a body. Do not forget that the custom of keeping the body in the coffin was not there yet. For this reason, some mummies were found without head or without an arm. Driven by religious modesty, before exposing them to the bodies of the brothers 'reconstruction': bodies without heads or without arms would hurt too many feelings.
example is the body of a girl, who died around the age of eighteen: not his or the forearm or the skull.
The most shocking story is that of a man buried in a state of apparent death, the body stiffens, the temperature drops, you hear the heartbeat. Pulse and breathing stop. At that time, there was no requirement to wait 48 hours to bury the corpses, and so were buried immediately. But once the man wakes up under the earth: the air feels faint. Here is mustering all his strength. Dragging its feet, clenched his fists, the muscles of the calf and thigh muscles contract. Even today, the recess of the abdomen demonstrates the effort to fill with air. Si nota il rossore della pelle: vasi sanguigni e capillari, dilatandosi, si sono rotti e il sangue è affiorato alla pelle. La gola è contratta e sul viso è rimasto il riso sardonico: il ghigno del terrore e della pazzia. Ha la pelle del brivido, la pelle d’oca, accentuata sulla coscia sinistra. Proprio dove, nascosto dalla mano, c’è un graffio.
Da cornice, nell’insolito museo, si possono ammirare il lampadario fatto di ossa e teschi. Quest’insolito museo attira ben oltre 13 mila visitatori all’anno, considerando che nel periodo invernale le visite si
effettuano soltanto due volte al giorno, rimanendo poi chiuso per l’intera giornata, è un dato davvero
interessante. Come d’interesse scientifico si può parlare per i tanti giornalisti e troupe televisive che
annualmente si occupano del cimitero delle mummie. Qualche anno fa una equipe medica seguita da uno staff
di tecnici televisivi arrivò dall’america per girare uno speciale documentario per il National Geographic.
Un ulteriore studio venne eseguito in loco dagli antropologi e medici statunitensi.
‘Dissero Muscinelli that Canon, one of the mummies, he certainly tells diabetes-Giuseppe Ducci,
historic guardian of the mummies at Urbana-acute forms of arthritis which are present in several mummies.
Among the probable causes of death of some bodies: pneumonia. X-rays, endoscopies and physiological analysis were
-place. The case of the woman buried alive and died of caesarean the team was not biased, but
their faces shone through a clear reservations about history related to the sad end of those two persons'.
are just some of the small news emerged that week of studies conducted by the National Geographic on
18 mummies, compared to those that emerged in the '70s and '80s.
Another advertisement for urban thanks to the cemetery of mummies can attract many tourists and visitors
, perhaps attracted by quell'inspiegabile taste for the macabre or the afterlife that both fascinates.
Siena
Santa Maria della Scala
In May 1999, during the archaeological survey work, sotto il pavimento della chiesa della Santissima Annunziata è riapparsa una cappella adibita a sepoltura situata sotto l'altare della tomba del mitico fondatore del Santa Maria della Scala, il beato Sorore, contenente tre corpi perfettamente conservati in seguito ad un processo di mummificazione naturale favorito dal microclima della minuscola cappella. Una scoperta sensazionale (in Italia sono non più di dieci le mummie "vestite" risalenti al '400 finora rinvenute) che ha suscitato l'interesse del mondo scientifico internazionale. Due corpi erano rimasti per 500 anni nelle loro rozze bare di legno, con una croce dipinta sul coperchio ed un rosario intorno ai fianchi; il terzo corpo era adagiato su di una delle due casse ed era vestito con the white habit of the Oblates. The facial features were clearly recognizable, as well as traces of wrinkles on the forehead, the perfectly preserved teeth. No doubt the identity of the two bodies placed inside the boxes, which are also still wearing the dress of burial and the parchment skin: it was Salimbene Capacci, Rector of the Hospital at the end of 1400 and his wife Margaret Sozzini. On the face of the woman forced her mouth looked like a cry in the toes and feet were tied with a ribbon because it does not move his legs. The identity of the third mummy was at the center of a small yellow (now resolved).
Discover three mummies is not the thing more common in the world. But to bring to light the basement of the church of a medieval hospital is more unusual than normal.
yet is what happened in May 1999 when the restoration of the chapel of the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena came to light three mummified bodies
.
It was a discovery in the true sense of the term, because the three bodies had done before, their reappearance in 1948.
On that occasion, however, the superintendent Peleus Bacci attributed to the three bodies of many names, family names and biographies. It
, stable, Salimbene Capacci, rector of the hospital died in 1497, his wife Margaret Sozzini (daughter of the famous Mariano jurist) who died in 1511 and the painter Lorenzo di Pietro said Vecchietta who had asked to be buried at that point of the church. At that time the bodies were mummified reassembled and resealed in their tombs for centuries.
back to light, was imposed by the Institution of Santa Maria della Scala, the need to know something more about the three bodies. They were put to work the team of anthropologists Francesco Mallegni, University of Pisa University of Siena and historians. All regular
Salimbene and Margaret. They were. Especially since the discovery of 1948 was preceded in turn by another discovery in 1678, when the card identity of the two mummies, a man and a woman, had been defined with certainty.
Two mummies, in fact. Why the third body was added later, as demonstrated with absolute clarity the report prepared on this occasion in front of the luminaries of science including Siena Pirro Maria Gabrielli. On that occasion there was no talk of a third mummy, and this already raised doubts about whether the third body was that of the Oldie.
fact could not be him. The written documentation certifying, without a shadow of a doubt that the bones (bones, not mummy) Vecchietta ossuary had been dug up and thrown municipality in 1714.
Then the third body whose was it?
History is made with the same methods of police investigation. We need to find somebody who was struck by the discovery of two bodies in 1678, that had such a self-esteem to feel himself to be worthy of treatment as that of the rector of the great as great rector, and had a role that, within Santa Maria della Scala, to afford to achieve his dream.
And in fact there was a suspect: Girolamo Macchi, who lived between 1648 and 1734, "foundlings" and then self-made man to be a writer more (a kind of controller of accounts of our day) and hospital Above all, present at the discovery of 1678 and so impressed by it by leaving multiple traces in all his numerous writings.
All clues lead to him. And the "American comparison" gave reason to the supposition.
The remains are those of the mummy of a man over eighty years (Macchi and died at 86) is the body of a dead man in the middle of summer (Macchi died in July) and had problems of atherosclerosis (Macchi asked to be relieved from 'assignment for this kind of problem) was wearing coins dating to the early decades of the 700 (he died in 1734), one of those coins depicting Saint Jerome (his holy name day).
Finally, deposits of Santa Maria della Scala was discovered a portrait that preserves the Enrico Toti-sector institution established to be the portrait of the Macchi.
Mallegni non ebbe dubbi: il corpo e il ritratto appartenevano alla stessa persona: erano entrambi di Girolamo Macchi.
L’attribuzione fatta a metà XX secolo si è, di fatto, dimostrata esatta per Salimbene e Margherita, come attesta un documento datato 1678, in base al quale sappiamo che le due salme, già mummificate, giacevano in quella sepoltura all’interno della chiesa. Del terzo corpo, però, nella relazione stilata in quell’occasione di fronte ad alcuni luminari della scienza senese, fra i quali Pirro Maria Gabrielli, non si faceva parola. Non si trattava quindi del Vecchietta, le ossa del quale, peraltro, ci dicono le fonti scritte, common ossuary was laid in 1714. In fact, the third "guest" of the tomb is, in all likelihood, Girolamo Macchi, who lived between 1648 and 1734, which came in the infant exposed as Santa Maria della Scala and then remained within the institution as major writers. Macchi had witnessed the discovery of 1678, as he says in his writings, and apparently he was so impressed by request, to death, to lie forever with these famous people. For him, abandoned child, it was a real social redemption.
The three mummies are back in their ancient burial, although without any clothes that will serve scholars for their research on clothing of the period. Now waiting to be displayed in an exhibition that will illustrate to the public the exceptional nature of these three findings.
Lodi
Museum Paolo Gorini
Paolo Gorini The collection is located in the heart of the Hospital Elder in the south cloister of the century, in a 'single-ceilinged room richly frescoed in 1593 by Giulio Cesare Ferrari, chapter house at the time as used by the friars who ran the hospital originally.
The anatomical and the two mummies are on display in special cases and each identified with a tag describing the characteristics of the didactic piece. 
Three wall allow viewers to read the x-rays are performed on the corpse with the intent to explain the presence of the viscera and to indicate the routes of inoculation mummificanti liquids.
Museum Gorini no way wishes to present a collection of gruesome finds, but intends to inform the public of anatomical specimens, prepared by the illustrious researcher, as a means of disclosure of a scientific message, and the two mummified bodies such as an expression of spiritual Gorini to safeguard the human body from decay and corruption of death. Figure singular, unique, Gorini is a tangible example of a lofty man of science, dedicated to the discovery, research and, both literally and metaphorically, to the pursuit of immortality. The small room where the museum has its head office manages in the best way to convey the deep meaning of his work, making palpable the sincere passion of the scientist Lodi in all its empirical experiences.
How warned by the exhibits, the mystery of death, which in almost maniacal always fascinated him, was for his work as an investigator constant challenge, the powerful opponent of a titanic struggle undertaken to avoid the corruption of the time the mortal man , petrified or reducing them to ashes just to avoid the destruction of their organic decomposition.
The atmosphere of the museum is very special, indescribable in its many aspects. Located in a relatively dark corner of an ancient cloister, dimly lit by those rays of sunshine that illuminate the entire remainder of the yard, the sight is revealed only after traveling a long porch surrounded by total silence and the constant shade and, approaching the entrance to the museum, it is impossible not to be affected by a vague sense of alienation from almost awareness to attend a "show" out of time, fell into a unique dimension where past and present merge and interpenetrate.
nondescript glass door is the entrance to the chamber of wonders, the last gate before attending to what is left, not much unfortunately, dell'amplissima anatomical collection, which was able to prepare in Gorini course of his life.
The initial impact is quite staggering: the environment relatively small, almost overwhelming, the lack of lighting from cold neon lights, ceiling frescoes, the remains of anatomically arranged in such a way that disporsi evenly throughout the room and, above all, the two human mummies placed near the center of the museum left stunned by creating an indefinable sense of discomfort. The impression is that of being in front of a macabre collection of anatomical remains and animal-wonders (in a glass case, between a large petrified toad and a snake, it strikes just the little white two-headed mummy of a mouse) and only after passing the initial surprise, supported by the presence of excellent explanatory tables, one begins to understand the majesty of the work of Gorini. 
Carefully observing the exhibits (impossible not to be affected by small bodies, some visibly deformed children died at a very young age) you can be fully accountable for the highest value of the scientist. The very successful
petrification of body parts, hands, brain and genitalia in particular, but also an entire human nervous system and a horribly deformed spine, almost obsessive presence of the stuffed heads of some farmers Lodi nineteenth century (the work of 
Gorini is so well done that some of these still have a beard and a shaggy head of hair almost "live") and the two mummified remains impressive unfold in the eyes of attentive as magnificent instrument of science, tangible expressions of a moral and spiritual which had as main objective the preservation of the body from corruption and the destruction caused by death. 
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