The
Municipal Cemetery in Modena (Italy) must be one of the few cemeteries where an
“Archistar” has been called in. I came across this place in Modena thanks to a
magazine article.
Cemeteries in Italy are one of the strange
things here. Little boxes are piled high one above the other to hold the dead.
They are often multi storey structures. The little frail old ladies who climb
the dangerous looking step ladders the council provide to place flowers always
amaze me.
The workings of these cemeteries are quite
macabre. On popping off, you start out in a normal coffin and then every so
often the coffin gets opened and the remains moved to an ever-smaller box. This
is to make more room in the family tomb or a move to a smaller cheaper little
box. The orange building in this set is the final destination with the smallest
boxes, called the “Osario”, translated “Ossuary” .
This cemetery was designed by Aldo Rossi a
famous Italian architect and intellectual. It was built in the late 70’s.
Aldo Rossi was a Professor of
Architectural Composition, which is the very subject that this poor English
Engineer was told was missing from his qualifications to allow a mutual EU
recognition of my British qualifications. I had to spend a 6 month
“apprenticeship” with an Italian Engineer to learn this vital requisite for an
Engineer.
