SICILIAN CEMETERY

When visiting Sicily we stopped at a couple  of cemeteries and had a wander through them. Italian cemeteries tend to be very crowded and the graves are very ornate and adorned with statues, carvings, flowers and text. One can tell space is at a premium, but at the same time the culture is very much influenced by the past, when in Etruscan and Graeco-Roman times the tomb was seen as the place where the dead spent their time after life so it had to be as home-like as possible. Hence the mausoleums and elaborate tombs of antiquity.

Many pagan traditions have survived in both Greece and Italy and those customs, beliefs and traditions that relate to the dead have been particularly resistant to change. Instead the introduced Christianity has adapted these old pagan traditions into new guises that were compatible with the new religion's belief systems.

The photos in this post are from a quite large cemetery in the outskirts fo Syracuse, Sicily. This post is part of Julie's Taphophile Tragics meme.

A high wall completely surrounds the cemetery

The text in the centre, on the pages of the open book reads: "Why do you look at me? As I am you will become; As you are I once was." This is a common ancient epitaph that has here been translated to Italian 

Interesting to see this modern-looking statue of a mourner in amongst the more traditional Christs and Madonnas

Even the dead live in high rise apartments!