The Campo Verano (Cimitero Comunale Monumentale Campo Verano), which covers 80 hectares (200 acres), is Rome's largest cemetery. Initiated during Napoleonic rule, which forbade burials in churches and towns, the cemetery was designed by the Roman architect Giuseppe Valadier (1762-1839) between 1807 and 1812. The chapel and quadriporticus were designed and built by another Roman architect, Virginio Vespignani (1808-82), in 1852. The four allegorical statues (Silence, Charity, Hope & Meditation), at the entrance, were added in 1878. The writer Alberto Moravia (1907-90), the actor Marcello Mastroianni (1924-96), Alessandro Moreschi (1858–1922), the last surviving castrato at the time of his death, Clara Petacci (1912 –1945), the mistress of Benito Mussolini, who was killed with him by partisans, and the English novelist Ronald Firbank (1886-1926), are just some of the notable figures who are interred in Campo Verano. Comments are closed.
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My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private walking tours of Rome.
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December 2023
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