Halloween is here! What better way to celebrate All Hallow's Eve, the night that spirits freely roam the earth, than with a tour of Rome's most sinister sites?
Those
Artful Bones
For lovers of the macabre, there’s no more deliciously creepy place in Rome than the Museum
and Crypt of the Capuchins, where the skeletons of more than 4000 monks
have been used as eerie decoration. Hipbones become moldings, chandeliers
dangle with leg and arm bones, and vertebrae make intricate cornices. In the
last room, over a pile of bones and three reassembled skeletons sporting the
famous Capuchin hood, an ominous sign reads, “What you are we once were; what we are
you will become.” Via
Veneto, 27.
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| Crypt of the Capuchin Monks, Santa Maria della Concezione |
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| Crypt of the Capuchin Monks, Santa Maria della Concezione [source] |
Messages
from Beyond the Grave
A tiny church in Prati has found a way to
communicate with souls suffering in purgatory, and their tiny annexed museum has
proof. The Museum of Souls in Purgatory
displays fingerprints burned into a prayer book, a charred handprint on a
wooden table, clothes marked with mysterious signs, and other creepy evidence that heaven’s unpleasant waiting room
might actually exist. Lungotevere Prati,
12.
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| Fingerprints burned onto a prayer book, Museo delle Anime in Purgatorio [source] |
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| Handprint burned onto wood, Museo delle Anime in Purgatorio [source] |
Dungeons
and Death
Although today Castel Sant’Angelo is a magnificent palace and a fascinating
museum, it wasn’t always so. Up to the late 19th century, the
dungeons of the castle were used as the papal prisons, and more often than not, once you went in, you rarely came out again, unless to mount the scaffold. Famous prisoners have included Benvenuto
Cellini, Giordano Bruno, and Galileo. The bridge right outside, with its copies of Bernini angels, may
look uplifting, but it was here that countless public executions took place, including
the infamous decapitation of 22-year-old Beatrice Cenci in 1599. Her ghost is said to walk the bridge every September 11th, the anniversary of her death, with her severed head in her hand. The bridge was also the
site of a stampede during the Jubilee of 1450, when more than 200 people were
trampled to death or drowned. Lungotevere
Castello, 50.
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| Passageway leading to the dungeons of Castel Sant'Angelo [source] |
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| Angel Statue (copy after Bernini), Bridge of the Angels,
© Fabiana@Flickr.com
|
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| Bridge of the Angels, Rome © Kathleen Waters |
RIP
John Doe
In Renaissance Rome, murder was practically
considered a sport, and bodies floating in the Tiber were far from rare. From
its convenient position just a few steps from the riverbanks, the church of Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte would
fish the bodies out of the river, stack them in the cellar, and bury any that
went unclaimed. The church is decorated with ghoulish images and boasts a cross
made of skulls. A chilling sign on the door reads, “Today for me, tomorrow for
you.” Via Giulia, 262.
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| Decoration on the doorway of Santa Maria dell'Orazione e della Morte @Toni Bruguès |
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| "Me today; you tomorrow" inscription outside Santa Maria dell'Orazione e della Morte © Tiffany Parks |
Death’s
Portal
St. Peter’s Basilica has five sets of
Bronze Doors, the most noted being the Holy Doors (open only on occasion of a
Holy Year) and the massive central Filarete doors, the only set original to the
Constantine Basilica. Less well-known, but no less intriguing are the Doors of
Death, to the far left of the portico, used as the exit for funeral
processions. Cast in the 1960s by Giacomo Manzù, the doors feature morbid
scenes of crucifixions, hangings, and other martyrdoms, as well as the heads of
vultures looking out ominously. When I used to give tours of St. Peter's basilica, I refused to walk through these ones, even though they are one of the two main exits. Piazza San Pietro.
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| Left "Door of Death," Giacomo Manzù [source] |
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| Detail of "Doors of Death," Giacomo Manzù [source] |
The Art of Torture
If you find torture even creepier than death (and let's face it, who doesn't?), make a timely visit to Rome's Museum of Criminology. Learn about medieval torture techniques and see many of the gruesome devices used to elicit "confessions". Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this place is realizing some of these torture techniques were used until the 20th century. This museum is not for the faint of heart, especially if you've got a good imagination. Via del Gonfalone, 29.
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| Screw chair (reproduction), Museo di Criminologia, Rome [source] |
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| Female skeleton discovered shacked in Poggio Catino in the 1930s, Museo di Criminologia, Rome. [source] |
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| Human-shaped cage, discovered with real skeleton, Museo di Criminologia, Rome [source] |
Doctors of Death
If the image of an old abandoned hospital or insane asylum conjures up your worst nightmares, this is the place for you! Even the name of it is enough to make a grown man squirm. The National Museum of Sanitary Art is one place that will make you glad to be living (and getting sick) in the 21st century. Located in a wing of a hospital founded in the 1400s, this museum displays such unappetizing objects as pickled fetuses, child skeletons, and many, many more atrocious sights. Lungotevere in Sassia.
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| Exhibit at Museo dell'Arte Sanitaria, Rome [source] |
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| Exhibit of child skeletons, Museo dell'Arte Sanitaria, Roma [source] |
Death Lives Here
Miles and miles of dimly lit, underground burial chambers? I think that would qualify as spooky. Perhaps the most terrifying thing about the Catacombs (besides the fact that thousands of souls were buried here, some of whom suffered horrifically violent deaths) is knowing that one wrong turn could lead you into utter darkness and you could easily end up lost for days in the maze of narrow death-soaked passageways, as happened to a few French kids in the Paris catacombs a few years ago. There are many (some say upwards of 40) Catacomb sites in Rome. The most popular is probably The Catacombs of San Callisto, Via Appia Antica, 110.
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| Catacombs of San Callisto, Rome [source] |
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| Catacombs of San Callisto, Rome [source] |
Death
is in the Air
As the site of the brutal deaths of an
estimated 700,000 people, is it any wonder the Colosseum is considered one of
the most haunted places in the world? In the Middle Ages it was believed to be
a gathering place for souls at unrest, and as late as the early 20th
century, it was thought that the noxious fumes of the countless murders that
took place here could be fatal to anyone who breathed them, particularly at
night. Such was the fate of Henry James’ heroine Daisy Miller, whose nighttime
visit to the Colosseum proved fatal.
On
Hallowed Ground
Although it is a cemetery, I'm not sure this site can really be described as spooky. In fact, it could just as easily be included in a list of the 10 Most Beautiful Places in Rome. Dubbed by Oscar Wilde “the holiest place in
Rome,” the exquisite Non-Catholic Cemetery
is reserved for Rome’s Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish, and otherwise non-Christian dead,
and is famously the resting place of John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Goethe’s
only son. With its view of the ancient Pyramid of Cestius, towering cypress
trees, and tombstones and mausoleums that are veritable works of art, this
might just be the most enchanting cemetery in the world. Via Caio Cestio, 6.
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| Non-Catholic Cemetery, Rome @Rmishka Singh |
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| Non-Catholic Cemetery, Rome @Rmishka Singh |
