Some 30 years ago I visited Le Catacombe dei Cappuccini in Palermo (It). I didn’t know what to expect and was flabbergasted and almost in shock when I came down the marble staircase. It took me some minutes to calm down and after asking the spirits for permission I entered the catacombs…
These catacombs house the mummified bodies and skeletons of some 8000 Palermitans who died between the 17th and 19th centuries. Earthly power, gender, religion and professional status are still rigidly distinguished, with men and women occupying separate corridors, and a first-class section set aside for virgins.









