Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Chiesa della Morte

The name of this small deconsacrated church located in the historic center is "The Church of Death." If you look closely you can see the skull and crossbones carved above the door. It has this cheerful name because during the Middle Ages the corpses of the local dead were brought here to decompose in underground crypts. In those days only the very rich or very holy got their own tomb.

These crypts can be seen through areas of the church floor which are covered in glass. There is a whole series of crypts for corpses in varying phases of decomposition. The last stop was the area closest to an opening onto the sea. One high tide and, swoosh, away you go! No more bones cluttering up the crypt...

8 comments:

valeria said...

Uhm, ...spooky!!!!

Unknown said...

It sounds creepy but fascinating at the same time!

Jane Hards Photography said...

Fascinating and the light really adds to the tale.

LaGrasta said...

What an interesting post. Thanks!

Petrea Burchard said...

JM is right. Creepy and fascinating. I'll bet the tourists love it!

Hilda said...

My tummy's queasy just thinking about looking through that glass floor. Very practical though — talk about rejoining the circle of life.

mouse (aka kimy) said...

fascinating.... I'm sure church of death sounds much prettier in italian!

crittoria said...

Very spooky!