Cimitero Monumentale Di Milano

Different cultures handle death differently. 

Some prefer to focus on the living, and so there are no specific places to mourn the loss of loved ones. 

Nomadic tribes, who move from place to place, have no distinct burial grounds, and the same is true for those who lived primarily on the sea. 

A cemetery is a place for remembrance. 

This is where the living come to reflect and look back. 

It is at the same time deeply personal and a collective experience. 

In some cities, like Copenhagen, cemeteries are considered a kind of park by the locals, who go there for walks and to have picnics among the graves. 

In others, like Paris, cemeteries are a tourist destination, and people will look up the location of certain graves belonging to famous artists and singers like Dalida, Jim Morrison, and Marcel Proust, before they visit.

The Cimitero Monumentale is one of the two largest cemeteries in Milan (the other being Cimitero Maggiore). 

It is noted for its abundance of artistic tombs and monuments. 

Since it first opened in 1866, it has been filled with a wide range of Italian sculptures in different artistic styles, Greek temples and even a scaled-down version of the Trajan’s Column. 

Milan is Italy’s industrial and financial centre, and many of the tombs belong to noted industrialist dynasties. 

For this reason, many of the tombs have been lavishly decorated by some of the most respected designers and artists of Italy, including Giò Ponti, Arturo Martini, Lucio Fontana and Adolfo Wildt. 

You enter the cemetery through the Famedio, a massive entrance hall built in a Neo-Medieval style, where many of the country’s most honoured citizens have been placed for their final rest. 

The size of a small castle, the names of the dead in this section tell a story of Italian history through the lives of prominent writers, philosophers, and entrepreneurs.

Even though the cemetery is right next to the railroad tracks, the atmosphere is serene and calm. 

For some reason, places associated with death are quieter than others, as though it would be in poor taste for signs of life to intrude. 

The cemetery is for remembrance and introspection, to consider life’s ephemerality, before returning to the high pace of the world outside its walls.