I Want My Mummy! - A Visit to Palermo's Capuchin Catacombs

Every since I vacationed in Egypt, I've been fascinated with the whole idea of mummification and mummies. So imagine how I felt then when I discovered the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Sicily. Where over 1000 men, women and children - still dressed in the finery of the day - are so painstakingly preserved that you'd swear one of them might stand up and tap you on the shoulder.

I'm hesitant to use the word "mummies" because the inhabitants of the Capuchin Catacombs are mummified but far from wrapped in gauze. Mummification may have been outlawed in 1881, but there seems to have been an exception or two made here. I'm pretty sure also - if you hold any interest at all in mummies and related - you won't be at all disappointed.

The Capuchin Catacombs are part of a larger complex, that being the Cauchin Monastery which was constructed back in 1533.

Time has not been nearly as kind to the monastery as it has been to the mummies of the Catacombs.

Capuchin monks and priests (hence the name of the Catacombs) share the spotlight with a cross-section of Palermo's rich, famous and otherwise nondescript. Special nameplates identify vestal virgins who reside in a nitch of their very own. I'm not ashamed to say that the mummified children - and there are a few to behold - gave me chills. Little Rosalia Lombardo was only two years old when she died but is so remarkably preserved that she has been given the nickname of "Sleeping Beauty."

Not every mummy is lounging about. Many of the important monks and priests are entombed in open-air caskets or protected in what once were air-tight glass cases. But the rest are simply there. Celebrating some macabre party to which you are invited.

In many respects, Palermo has resisted the progression of time. The old women still black while mourning for their dead (and keep wearing it for upwards to a year in some areas). The untimely passing of loved ones is announced with posters that are plastered about in their respective small towns. Seeing the mummified inhabitants of the Capuchin Catacombs certainly underscores that feeling.

The catacombs are open to the public. The catacombs are at Piazza Cappuccini, 1, Palermo, and are open 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m daily. Entrance fee varies based on the Euro rate.