We end our exploration of the modern part of Milan at a less modern attraction, the Monumental Cemetery. Officially opened in 1866 it was planned to consolidate a number of small cemeteries that used to be scattered around the city into a single location. The entrance is through the impressive Famedio, a massive Hall of Fame-like Neo-Medieval style building made of marble and stone that contains the tombs of more prominent citizens.
We descend below it, first to find the toilets that we really need after so many hours exploring the town. And then to see the tombs which are more extensive than we expected. There are multiple rows and each of them are ending far away in the distance.
Each row has many niches and each niche is full of tombs. There are strategically placed stairs that you can use to maintain the tombs at the top. Some of the places are for sale, we assume they must be quite expensive. Maybe the cheaper ones are in the section held by eight metal rods that we decide to skip for our safety.
The most famous tomb that we find here is of Giovanni Schiaparelli. He is famous for first noticing the channels on Mars which due to a mistranslation were assumed to be artificial for a few decades and were part of many sci-fi books and alien life speculation. Another, maybe controversial tomb, is for the soldiers that fell while fighting a war of aggression in Russia during World War 2.
The Famedio looks from the outside like a giant church so we are not surprised to find out there is a small chapel at the bottom of it. It still doesn’t account for the full height of the structure but it is good to see that our assumption is at least partly correct.
Entering the cemetery part we are immediately charmed by the tombs. They look like work of arts from the biggest to the smallest, it really is like an outdoor museum.
The sculptures especially that adorn some of the tombs seem to be museum quality and we take our time to admire each one as we explore the cemetery.
Some of the tombs are more like mausoleums, they look like small houses and are much larger and ornated than many mausoleums we have seen before.
We continue exploring as we make our way to the middle of the cemetery stopping at the sculptures or artwork that most catches our eyes. And there is a lot that catches our eyes.
In the middle is the ossuary however notwithstanding the name it is simply another buildings filled with tombs similarly to the Famedio. It is surrounded by tombs that look more modern and sleek, all cement and glass and little ornamentation.
A cemetery has a lot of greenery and with that a lot of birds. In this case they are mostly wood pigeons, blackbirds and woodpeckers that we watch as they search for food in the trees and on the ground.
Returning we pass a few more impressive tombs including one that is emulating at a smaller scale Trajan’s column.
There are many famous Italian people buried here but not that many that we know about. The last descendant of Mozart is an interesting find and the conductor and cellist Toscanini is one of the few that we recognize by name.
And then it is time to exit and find the metro station to use our daily pass to make our way to Sforzesco Castle, the next attraction on our plan.
