5 Tombs to Explore in Italy

The Catacombe dei Cappuccini is a complex of tunnels and shrines in Palermo, Sicily that is decorated entirely with mummified corpses. Today they provide a somewhat macabre tourist attraction as well as an extraordinary historical record. The catacombs contain about 8000 corpses and 1252 mummies that line the walls. It will be a unique experience visiting this place.

The tomb of Dante is the neoclassical tomb of the poet Dante Alighieri erected at the Basilica of San Francesco in the center of Ravenna. The Supreme Poet lived the last years of his existence in the Romagna city, dying there in 1321. The tomb is a national monument and around it, an area of ​​respect and silence called the "Dante area" has been established. The area includes the tomb of the poet, the garden with the Quadrarco, and the Franciscan cloisters, which house the Dante Museum.

The cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the largest church in Italy, the third-largest in Europe and the fifth-largest in the world. The roof is open to tourists for a fee, which allows many a close-up view of some spectacular sculpture that would otherwise be unappreciated.

GIANTS’ GRAVES, OR TOMBA DEI giganti, are megalithic gallery graves that were used as public tombs during the Bronze Age. The tombs are made of a central stele, a stone or wooden slab, which has a hole cut into it that functions as the entrance. It was built in local granite between 1800 and 1600 BC and renovated between 1600 and 1300 BC. It has a gallery approximately ten meters tall and four meters wide.

The Scaliger Tombs in Verona are a funerary complex built by the Della Scala family, who ruled over the city between the 13th and the 14th century. While impressive as a whole, they include one monument that stands out for its magnificence: the one for Cangrande (1291-1329), the most important and famous member of this aristocratic dynasty.