Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno
I have always been fascinated by old cemeteries. During trips with my mother to Malta, Ireland and Scotland we would stop at the oldest cemetery that we could find. Just to roam around and look at the old graves. So when I read about the big cemetery in Genua and saw photos of the awesome sculptures, I just knew that I had to visit this one during our ‘Giro d’Italia’ in 2016.
A little bit of History
The Staglieno Cemetery is the largest burial site in Genova and is one of the most important monumental cemeteries in Europe. The design task had been entrusted as early as 1835 to the civic architect Carlo Barabino who, however, was unable to complete the task due to his sudden death in 1835. The task of developing the project was then entrusted to his pupil and collaborator Giovanni Battista Resasco (1798-1871), whose plan was approved in 1840. The works began in 1844, in an area, that of Villa Vaccarezza, in Staglieno still largely sparsely inhabited, and not far from the city center. It was officially opened to the public on January 1st 1851. That day 4 people were buried.
For more history and information: Visit the official site of the Cemetery
Fortunately my travel companion was also impressed by the cemetery and so it happened. We spend ceveral hours walking because the place is HUGE! The statues are so rewarding to photograph. The hallways with hundreds of gravestones were amazing to walk along. I hope my photos will do the place some justice.
Normally I hardly ever convert my photos to black and white but with this location I prefered the B&W shots over the coloured ones. I edited a small part of my photos to show here on my website. Probably there will be more shots added in the near future.
