Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno
Encyclopedia
The Cimitero monumentale di Staglieno is an extensive cemetery
located on a hillside in the district of Staglieno of Genoa
, Italy
, famous for its monumental sculpture
. Covering an area of more than a square kilometre, it is one of the largest cemeteries in Europe.
The original project was approved in 1835 by the City's architect Carlo Barabino (1768-1835). However, he died the same year as a result of the cholera epidemic that struck the city and the project passed to his assistant and pupil Giovanni Battista Resasco (1798-1871).
Part of the south-eastern hillside of Staglieno was acquired for the cemetery. The site of the Villa Vaccarezza was chosen as the most suitable, being both sparsely populated and close to the centre of the city. Work began in 1844 and it was was opened on 2 January 1851. On that day there were four burials.
Over time there were several extensions and the cemetery now includes sections for an English cemetery, a Protestant one and a Jewish one.
At the centre of the site is a tall statue of Faith, sculpted by Santo Varni. Facing the statue, up a grand staircase, is a domed Pantheon (a copy of the Pantheon in Rome
) with a Doric portico flanked by two marble statues of the prophets
Jeremiah
and Job
.
At the time Genoa was a major centre of learning within Italy and attracted reformists and an affluent bourgeoisie. Wishing to place long-lasting memorials to remember their work and moral accomplishments, they developed a tradition of funereal sculpture, particularly realistic works, to be placed with their tombs.
's wife Constance Lloyd
, Ferruccio Parri
, Fabrizio De André
, Nino Bixio
, and Giuseppe Mazzini
.
Significant sculptors with work here include Leonardo Bistolfi
, Giulio Monteverde
, and Edoardo Alfieri
.
The strong British influence in the city of Genoa in the late 19th century is reflected in the separate British Cemetery at Staglieno which also contains the graves of British and Commonwealth servicemen from both the First and Second World Wars.
briefly praises the cemetery in his Innocents Abroad
, and Friedrich Nietzsche
visited the cemetery frequently in the 1880s with his friend Paul Ree
and had many long philosophical discussions as they strolled through the funereal colonnades.
Staglieno was the subject of a 2003 book of photographs by Lee Friedlander
. The Appiani family tomb, by Demetrio Paernio, featured on the cover of English band Joy Division's album Closer
, photographed by Bernard Pierre Wolff.
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
located on a hillside in the district of Staglieno of Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, famous for its monumental sculpture
Monumental sculpture
The term monumental sculpture is often used in art history and criticism, but not always consistently. It combines two concepts, one of function, and one of size, and may include an element of a third more subjective concept. It is often used for all sculptures that are large...
. Covering an area of more than a square kilometre, it is one of the largest cemeteries in Europe.
History
The design of the cemetery of the City of Genoa dates back to Napoleon's edict of Saint-Cloud, 1804, when he forbade burials in churches and towns.The original project was approved in 1835 by the City's architect Carlo Barabino (1768-1835). However, he died the same year as a result of the cholera epidemic that struck the city and the project passed to his assistant and pupil Giovanni Battista Resasco (1798-1871).
Part of the south-eastern hillside of Staglieno was acquired for the cemetery. The site of the Villa Vaccarezza was chosen as the most suitable, being both sparsely populated and close to the centre of the city. Work began in 1844 and it was was opened on 2 January 1851. On that day there were four burials.
Over time there were several extensions and the cemetery now includes sections for an English cemetery, a Protestant one and a Jewish one.
At the centre of the site is a tall statue of Faith, sculpted by Santo Varni. Facing the statue, up a grand staircase, is a domed Pantheon (a copy of the Pantheon in Rome
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon ,Rarely Pantheum. This appears in Pliny's Natural History in describing this edifice: Agrippae Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis; in columnis templi eius Caryatides probantur inter pauca operum, sicut in fastigio posita signa, sed propter altitudinem loci minus celebrata.from ,...
) with a Doric portico flanked by two marble statues of the prophets
Prophets
Prophets may refer to:* High Prophets , The Covenant leaders in Halo 2* Prophets , one of the five Ascension Gift Ministries* LDS Prophets, modern day Prophets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
Jeremiah
Jeremiah
Jeremiah Hebrew：יִרְמְיָה , Modern Hebrew:Yirməyāhū, IPA: jirməˈjaːhu, Tiberian:Yirmĭyahu, Greek:Ἰερεμίας), meaning "Yahweh exalts", or called the "Weeping prophet" was one of the main prophets of the Hebrew Bible...
and Job
Job (Biblical figure)
Job is the central character of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible. Job is listed as a prophet of God in the Qur'an.- Book of Job :The Book of Job begins with an introduction to Job's character — he is described as a blessed man who lives righteously...
.
At the time Genoa was a major centre of learning within Italy and attracted reformists and an affluent bourgeoisie. Wishing to place long-lasting memorials to remember their work and moral accomplishments, they developed a tradition of funereal sculpture, particularly realistic works, to be placed with their tombs.
Memorials
The cemetery contains the graves of Oscar WildeOscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's wife Constance Lloyd
Constance Lloyd
Constance Wilde , born Constance Mary Lloyd, was the wife of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde and the mother of his two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. The daughter of Horace Lloyd, an Irish barrister, and Adelaide Atkinson Lloyd, she married Wilde on May 29, 1884, and had both her sons within the next two years...
, Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri was an Italian partisan and politician who served as the 43rd Prime Minister of Italy for several months in 1945. During the resistance he was known as Maurizio.-Biography:...
, Fabrizio De André
Fabrizio De André
Fabrizio De André was an Italian singer-songwriter.Known for his sympathies towards anarchism, libertarianism, and pacifism, he also was a convicted atheist , and his songs often featured marginalized and rebellious people, prostitutes and knaves, and attacked the Catholic Church...
, Nino Bixio
Nino Bixio
Nino Bixio was an Italian soldier and politician, who fought for the Italian unification.Born in Genoa, while still a boy, Bixio was compelled by his parents to embrace a career in the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia...
, and Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
.
Significant sculptors with work here include Leonardo Bistolfi
Leonardo Bistolfi
Leonardo Bistolfi was an Italian sculptor, an important exponent of Italian Symbolism.Bistolfi was born in Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, north-west Italy, to Giovanni Bistolfi, a sculptor in wood, and to Angela Amisano....
, Giulio Monteverde
Giulio Monteverde
Giulio Monteverde was an Italian naturalist sculptor and teacher.-Biography:Monteverde was born in Bistagno, Italy and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. He later became a professor there...
, and Edoardo Alfieri
Edoardo Alfieri
Edoardo Alfieri was an Italian sculptor.Although he was born at Foggia in southern Italy, his family was of Piemontese origin and soon moved to Genoa, where he spent his childhood...
.
The strong British influence in the city of Genoa in the late 19th century is reflected in the separate British Cemetery at Staglieno which also contains the graves of British and Commonwealth servicemen from both the First and Second World Wars.
Cultural references
Mark TwainMark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
briefly praises the cemetery in his Innocents Abroad
Innocents Abroad
The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress is a travel book by American author Mark Twain published in 1869 which humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered vessel Quaker City through Europe and the Holy Land with a group of American...
, and Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
visited the cemetery frequently in the 1880s with his friend Paul Ree
Paul Rée
Paul Ludwig Carl Heinrich Rée was a German author and philosopher, and friend of Friedrich Nietzsche.-Biography:...
and had many long philosophical discussions as they strolled through the funereal colonnades.
Staglieno was the subject of a 2003 book of photographs by Lee Friedlander
Lee Friedlander
Lee Friedlander is an American photographer and artist. In the 1960s and 70s, working primarily with 35mm cameras and black and white film, Friedlander evolved an influential and often imitated visual language of urban "social landscape," with many of the photographs including fragments of...
. The Appiani family tomb, by Demetrio Paernio, featured on the cover of English band Joy Division's album Closer
Closer (Joy Division album)
Closer is the second and final studio album by the English post-punk band Joy Division, released , two months following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. The album was originally scheduled to be released on . The record was originally released on the Factory Records label as a 12" LP and...
, photographed by Bernard Pierre Wolff.
See also
- Certosa di BolognaCertosa di BolognaThe Certosa di Bologna is a former Carthusian monastery in Bologna, central Italy, which was founded in 1334 and suppressed in 1797. In 1801 it became the city’s Monumental Cemetery which would be much praised by Byron and others...
, the site of the city’s monumental cemetery - Cimitero Monumentale di MilanoCimitero Monumentale di MilanoThe Cimitero Monumentale in Milan, Italy is a very large cemetery, noted for its abundance of highly artistic and often imposing tombs.It was designed by the architect Carlo Maciachini...
- Ugo FoscoloUgo FoscoloUgo Foscolo , born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and poet.-Biography:Foscolo was born on the Ionian island of Zakynthos...
- Monumental Cemetery of BonariaMonumental Cemetery of BonariaThe Monumental Cemetery of Bonaria is located in Cagliari, Sardinia.In use between 1829 and 1968, the cemetery originally occupied an area at the base of the hill of Bonaria, and over time expanded upwards. The main entrance is located in Piazza Cimitero, with a second entrance in Ravenna, at the...
in Sardinia