Unique and Weird Museums

M.J.Cryan

The Museum of the Dead Souls, Rome

Built at the turn of the century in the neo-Gothic style, this tiny church faces the banks of the Tiber. Inside a side room has been set up to house a most unusual collection. It consists of a number of extraordinary artefacts such as prayer books, night caps, objects of wood, linen, etc. all bearing the imprints of fiery hands and crosses - testimonies of “calls for prayers” from the afterlife. The museum is inside the church of S. Cuore del Suffraggio, Lungotevere Prati 12, Rome. Free entrance. Hours 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The museum is closed during mass.

The Cemetery of the Franciscan Capuchin Friars, Rome

The entrance to this macabre monument is just a few steps from the hustle of Piazza Barberini’s metro stop on Via Veneto, a street better known for it  dolce vita  than for such unusual sights. Inside this above-ground cemetery (before Napoleon’s new laws in the  1800’s  all churches had crypts where  the dead were buried) every available inch of wall and ceiling space in the corridors and the six chapels is covered with unique and dramatic decorations made of human bones. These are the remains of persons who died between 1528 and 1870; over 4,000 Capuchin friars, Roman nobles, Papal soldiers and foreign dignitaries who considered it a privilege to be buried in the cemetery’s “holy soil” which was brought back from Jerusalem. Thousands of artistically stacked skulls, habit-draped skeletons of departed friars and the hanging, ceiling lamps made from leg and arm bones makes this one of the world’s most unusual cemeteries.

On the bottom level of the Concezione Church, Via Veneto 27, Rome. Entrance free, leave a donation with the grey-bearded monk who greets you at the door.

The Shrinking Statue – Palazzo Spada, Rome

Palazzo Spada, built about 1550, is a perfect Renaissance palazzo with a facade covered in fanciful decorations and busts of Roman emperors.

Besides being the seat of the National State Council, it houses a private gallery where the Spada family’s collection of old  master paintings, ancient statuary and sparkling Venetian chandeliers  can be admired. It is well worth a visit for it gives an excellent idea of how Rome’s noble families lived among abundant marble, frescoed walls and shiny brick floors.

After a visit to the gallery, ask the porter to show you the optical illusion set up by the 17^th century Roman architect Borromini, in a corner of the courtyard. You will see a massive statue of  the god Mars,  placed at the end of a long colonnade, which appears to shrink as one approaches it due to an optical illusion or architectural Joke created by the artist. In fact the statue is less than a meter high and is placed at the end of a colonnade of only 9 meters. From a certain distance the colonnade seems infinitely longer due to the faked proportions used by Borromini who progressively reduced the columns’ height and that of its vaulted ceiling.

 The Wine Museum, Torgiano, Perugia

Ten kms. From Perugia and 160 from Rome on the E7 super highway lies the tiny village of Torgiano, famous for its Museo del Vino. Housed in the elegant Palazzo Baglioni, it was set up by the Lungarotti wine estate in 1974 and since then thousands of people from all parts of the globe have visited the fourteen well designed rooms devoted to different facets of wine: the technical side of wine making to wine’s importance in history, folklore and art. Wine’s use as a medicine, in the kitchen, its magic properties and the hard to die superstitions about wine are all shown with the use of ancient manuscripts and designs. 

A large section is devoted to early tools and machines and the crafts connected to wine making. Wine containers used throughout the centuries from the robust terracotta amphorae of the Romans to delicate Venetian glasses and local ceramics form another section of the museum.  In nearby Assisi there are over 50 hotels and pensions but Torgiano has its own Le Tre Vaselle, noted for its elegant accommodations, cuisine, and of course, wine.

 The Mummies of Ferentillo, (Umbria)

The hill top village of Ferentillo near the city of Terni in Umbria boasts an unusual tourist attraction. The crypt of the village church due to the mineral content of the earth and the northern winds which whip through its open windows, has produced a natural mummification process on the bodies of the dead deposited there over the centuries. Ring the bell at the house bearing the sign  Guardiano delle Mummie and an elderly guardian, flashlight in hand, will conduct you through the crypt after having counted heads just to be sure no one gets left inside. He will point out the more interesting of the hundreds of mummified bodies, some in museum like cases, but most just propped up against the stone walls, as they were found in a setting which makes a Frankenstein film seem a comedy. Owls, dogs and other animals were often trapped in the crypt and mummified. They can be seen along with the remains of 18^th century travelers still robed in period dress, a bride in a tattered wedding gown and the tragic mummies of children. Adding to the other worldly atmosphere is a sign above the exit which reads, “We were like you; you will become like us”.