A Walk in the Cemetery

Rome has so many beautiful and unusual places to visit. One of my favourite is the cemetery for non-catholics (Cimitero accatolico per gli Stranieri) also known as the Protestant cemetery.

It is nestled behind the pyramid of Gaius Cestius, (metro stop Piramide) in Testaccio. Gaius was a tribune of the plebs under Augustus with a fondness for all things Egyptian. Hence his rather unusual tomb. Thanks to the close fit of its marble blocks it has never been pillaged.

However it has suffered time and again from pollution as it is located at one of the busiest city crossroads. It gets begrimed and filthy and the creamy white of the carrara marble blocks becomes greyer and greyer while weeds start poking out of crevices. The latest clean up job, funded by a Japanese clothing magnate, was completed earlier this year. 

The entrance of the cemetery is down Via Caio Sestio. It dates back to 1716. Some of the first people buried here would have been 'tourists' on their Grand Tour. The earliest grave found belongs to one George Langton, an Oxford graduate who died in 1738.

The first thing that strikes me on entering is how peaceful and orderly the cemetery is. Parallel rows of graves rise up towards the Aurelian walls that edge the cemetery, gravel alleys make a pleasant crunch when I tread along them and trees are everywhere, so many trees: Mediterranean cypresses, Judas trees and the ubiquitous umbrella pines with their needles shed all over the tombs and paths.
 
As I look down, at ground level, I see arrows engraved on stone blocks. They point me in the direction of some of the cemetery's more illustrious residents.


And none are more illustrious than the poets Keats and Shelley. Keats died in Rome of tuberculosis on 2 February 1821.  Beside him lies his friend, Joseph Severn.
 

Pointing the way

On the gravestone, beneath an engraved lyre, is the following epitaph:
"This Grave / contains all that was Mortal / of a / Young English Poet / Who / on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart / at the Malicious Power of his Enemies / Desired / these Words to be / engraven on his Tomb Stone: / Here lies One / Whose Name was writ in Water. 24 February 1821"

The ashes of another Romantic poet, Shelley,are close by. Shelley, who couldn't swim, drowned while sailing his yacht off the Italian riviera. A simple tombstone reads 'Cor cordium' (heart of hearts), followed by a quotation from Shakespeare's The Tempest. Shelley and Mary's three-year-old son, William, is also buried here.

Shelley

While Keats and Shelly may be among the main reasons tourist flock to the cemetery there are many other famous deceased, in fact, the cemetery's website claims that there is possibly the highest density of famous and important graves anywhere in the world here.

 Some noteworthy names are: Henry Christian Anderson,sculptor and friend of Henry James;  the Scottish novelist, R.M. Ballantyne; an Australian novelist and autobiographer, Martin Boyd; Giorgio Bulgari,an Italian businessman; Gregory Corso, American beat generation poet; the Italian novelist, Carlo Emilio Gadda; an Italian philosopher also leader of the Italian communist party, Antonio Gramsci ....

But not all the illustrious dead really lived, the fictional character 'Daisy Miller' from the Henry James novella of the same name, was buried here too.

When the weather is mild, it's a nice place to stroll through and while away an hour or two. But even on hot days the large umbrella pines offer plenty of shade. 

I've been here before, so I turn left at the entrance towards the back of the pyramid where I can find Keats and Shelley in a large meadow.

Once I get there, I'm reminded that I am just metres away from a heavily-trafficked junction. I can hear the buses rumble on the cobbles opposite the post office where I go to pay my bills

A cat strides by, another one jumps off a tomb stone, in the distance down a path yet another is lying on the gravel among the fallen pine needles and pine cones. The whole of my walk will be peppered by chance encounters with the cats which live here, a small and protected colony in this oasis amid the din of the city. Visitors can leave donations for their up-keep.

 I turn my back on the Romantics and explore the paths of the cemetery. At every turn there are details that draw my attention: 
a statue of a Spaniel-like dog, a bird with a twig in its beak, engraved horses, stone flowers, angels in various poses...Wherever I look and whichever path I wander along there is a detail to admire.

And if it isn't the tombs themselves that draw my attention there are beautiful plants,trimmed hedges, bushes with delicate blue flowers as well as  little creatures such as snails and beetles, and in small nooks in the walls pigeons coo and flutter around while an optimistic cat runs along the top of a wall.

                                                                                                      

Inside the cemetery there is a small chapel. It was built in 1898 by the German architect Andreas Holzinger. It is a mixture of classical and European styles.

The entrance to the cemetery is free but a donation of minimum 3 euros is suggested at the entrance. I always give more. The place is so beautiful. It needs all the contributions it can to keep it going. There is also a contribution box for the cats beside the main gate.




Once you've finished your stroll, go out the main gate and turn left down the road further into Testaccio. The road leads to Via Nicola Zabaglia and there towards the ancient walls beside Monte Testaccio is the  small war cemetery. 

The cemetery is usually padlocked outside of the gardeners' working hours to protect it from theft and vandalism. When I went by it was closed so I could only look at the neatly aligned crosses through the railings which surround the area.

The war cemetery was designed by Louis de Soissons. It was started shortly after the Allies had taken Rome from the retreating Germans on 3 June 1944. 

It was used for burials for soldiers of the occupying garrison as well as for some soldiers and airmen who had died as prisoners of war in Rome. Four hundred and twenty-six men are buried here.

My walk through the cemeteries was over but the day was still young. I was in Testaccio, home of the most authentic Roman food, and while I would always pass on the offal-based dishes, all that walking had made me hungry. I headed in direction of the new market with thoughts of 'cacio pepe' or 'matriciana' urging me on.

For more information check out: http://www.cemeteryrome.it/about/about.html , 

 http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2019300/ROME%20WAR%20CEMETERY