Catacombs of the Capuchins - Cemetery of the Convent of the Capuchin Friars

The state of conservation of the countless corpses on display make the Cemetery of the Convent of the Capuchin Friars, known as the Catacombs of the Capuchins of Palermo, one of the most impressive places to visit in the world. A macabre show that highlights the habits, customs and traditions of the Palermo city society that lived from the 17th to the 19th century.

A unique cultural heritage that in many centuries of history has attracted and fascinated onlookers from all over the world, including many intellectuals, poets and writers such as Alexandre Dumas, Mario Praz, Guy de Maupassant, Fanny Lewald and Carlo Levi.

Such an evocative place to which not even Ippolito Pindemonte remained insensitive who visited the Catacombs of the Capuchins on November 2, 1777 and praised them in the verses of his "Sepolcri": "Death looks at them and in theme seems to have missed the shots." The city grateful and grateful to the illustrious poet, called the road that leads to the church of Santa Maria della Pace, and then to the cemetery, via Pindemonte.

The most beautiful mummy in the world is kept in the Capuchin Catacombs: the "Sleeping Beauty" was called Rosalia Lombardo. "She is sleeping" from December 6, 1920, little Rosalia. At the Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo, when one approaches his little body, it is done in silence which is not 'religious' but 'maternal', just as one does when there is a baby sleeping in a cradle: being careful that don't wake up.

Today she would be more than 96 years old, this extremely unfortunate little girl, born in Palermo on December 13, 1918 and died of a bronchial infection or probable pneumonia, after the First World War, the only case of an absolutely intact human being. He rests in a small coffin, now restored, inside the Catacombs of Palermo, whose convent is known throughout the world for the presence, in its basement, of a vast cemetery that attracts the curiosity of many tourists. The macabre spectacle of the exposed corpses is a starting point for reflection on the transience of life and the futility of men's attachment to their external features.

Little Rosalia rests at the feet of the saint whose name she bears, precisely in the Chapel of Santa Rosalia, at the end of the first corridor, on the left, and she was one of the last people to be admitted to burial in the crypt. Angel face, blond hair, chubby cheekbones, a splendid upturned nose, a yellow bow in her hair. Only her face can be seen, her body is wrapped in a blanket, and it seems that she is asleep, or rather, she looks like a little girl ready to wake up at any moment. But it is only an illusion. Great merit is having paid attention to the aesthetic aspect to give the impression not of a corpse, but of a sleeping person.

In 1918 her parents saw her birth as the most beautiful of gifts and then realized that, two years later, a bronchial infection would take her away. Her father, destroyed by her pain, decided to make her "live forever", and contacted a well-known embalmer of the time, Alfredo Salafia, who used unique avant-garde techniques, whose formula was recently discovered . Salafia, a taxidermist and embalmer from Palermo, would have kept Rosalia's little body intact. In 1899 he obtained permission to experiment with his innovative compound on human cadavers in the Anatomical School of Professor Randaccio, which was later successfully presented at the Eclectic Medical College in New York.

The little girl looks like a little sleeping angel, with golden curls that fall on her forehead and features so authentic as to make her seem alive, but sunk into a deep sleep. But how was it possible to stop the instant of death?

In 2009 the frantic investigations bore fruit, when, thanks to the research of the paleontologist Dario Piombino Mascali, some questions, which had remained unresolved for a long time, finally found an answer. In fact, Salafia's niece, Anna, handed over a manuscript preserved in a blue folder, which contained the mysterious formula, which disappeared with Salafia's death from a stroke in 1933.

A mixture of formalin, glycerin, zinc salts, alcohol and acid salicylic. Almost all of these ingredients are still used today, and a facial treatment with paraffin dissolved in ether could be added to them, just to keep a lively and rounded appearance. Salafia with this formula revolutionized the immersion techniques used until then, which gave everything to the mummy, except a natural appearance. This technique represents one of the first examples of the use of formaldehyde for human embalming. In June 2014, the mummy Rosalia made headlines again.Sleeping Beauty's eyes were photographed one minute apart throughout the day, revealing the incredible surprise: they open and close several times and in the photos taken it almost seems as if there is still life.

The photos on the eyelids of the mummy Rosalia were taken with a sequence of one minute (60 seconds) creating a real film in which the eyes, the eyelids of the little girl open and close in a short movement. The discovery caused a stir in the city of Palermo: some cried out for a miracle. But the scholars, in observing the different photos taken several times on the face of the mummy Rosalia, have highlighted the fact that, in fact, the opening and closing of the eyes is evident, but that the phenomenon regards a particular reaction between the humidity and the lights of the photographic apparatus, which in the "shooting" procedure generate a photo-decomposition.

It would be precisely the photographic process that creates the opening and closing movement of the eyelids visible in all the photos taken with the timing of one minute. The body was difficult to X-ray because the coffin is surrounded by lead, and the liver, brain and one lung are clearly visible. Subsequently, Rosalia's body began to show some signs of deterioration, so much so that it was decided to place her inside a glass and steel cradle, a capsule saturated with nitrogen to destroy microorganisms, patented to keep twenty degrees inside. temperature and 65 percent humidity: the second "eternal cot" made in the world for a damp mummy (that is, still full of liquids) after that of Otzi, the prehistoric man of Bolzano.

 

Rosalia Lombardo, who has the same name as the little girl who died, had accused scholars of having deteriorated the embalmed body. The prosecutor had asked for the filing and the old woman had opposed it. The investigating judge, however, found no crimes. Both the sister of the same name and the niece Rosanna La Ferla have announced battle. "I have the honor, with this mine, to bring to your attention some facts" writes Mrs. Rosalia Lombardo"which are incredible and which have deeply touched my sensitivity as sister of the late...

The last time I saw my sister, in 2007, this one had a wonderful appearance, with a rosy complexion worthy of the fame that made her famous all over the world, comparing her to the sleeping beauty. Unfortunately I had to verify that that creature that seemed to be asleep today looks like a different person: she has different hair, her eyes are half open and her complexion, her wonderful rosy complexion has become a strange colour.. she looks oxidized!" . But she's got more. Her relatives also denounce that Rosalia "had a blue dress, tufts gathered in two blue bows, white socks, dressed by my grandmother herself.

Then we saw her in a peachy pink dress, then back to blue, with a yellow bow and no bow at all. But how many times was her coffin opened?”.

Records claim, however, that the glass was only broken once, and elders say it never changed. The investigating judge therefore closed the case, justifying the fact that it was necessary to intervene on the body, in order to preserve it and that therefore it could not be left unchanged. Perhaps the family's battle will continue, until they manage to get Rosalia the justice she deserves. But what about her, Rosalia?

She won't wake up like fairytale princesses when Prince Charming arrives.

 

She was just a little girl, with her blond curls on her forehead like when her mother combed her hair for the last time, with the rosy color of her face and the expression of that blissful sleep which makes everything mysterious and unnatural when you think of the century that has passed since his last breath.

Map: Catacombs of the Capuchins - Cemetery of the Convent of the Capuchin Friars