PIEDMONT CHRONICLE - L'Arvista Piemontèisa

12/14/2007

The monumental cemetery of Turin

It’s been difficult to choose the appropriate arrangement for such an article : “Art and Architecture” or “The Unknown Town”?
A monumental cemetery has several meanings ranging from the more obvious artistic architectural one to a complex, hardily classifiable string of feelings and associations that lead the visitor to a world characterized by its absolute, ultimate fixity, the landing place of a life’s journey.

I’ve chosen “The Unknown town” since the monumental cemetery represents a place where art and architecture attempt – in spite of the shortcomings of human works that tackle the mystery of life and death – to interpret and describe the meaning of a life and the enigma of eternity. The result is undoubtedly effective , words count little in front of “monumental” images of an unusual town, distant from more “usual” destinations.
However, this kind of tourist visits are not uncommon both in Europe and the USA. An American website ( http://www.findagrave.com/ ) allows to track down the locations where the so-called “celebrities” are buried : actors, singers, literati, sculptors, scientists, entrepreneurs. Also mentioned are over 600 “famous” Italian graves including 4 present at the monumental cemetery of Turin : the actor Erminio Macario, the writers Cesare Pavese and Primo Levi and the singer Fred Buscaglione.
The city website lists many leading figures who rest at the monumental cemetery of Turin, http://www.comune.torino.it/cimitero-monumentale/ : “this section [of the website] is the electronic version of the text “Our Roots” published in 1986-1987- 1991 by the Vital Statistics Office of the city of Turin”. The section, only in Italian, allows to locate the celebrities buried at the monumental cemetery by clicking “ricerca/research” ; then “ricerca per personaggi/research for characters”. To find the correct position, C18 – for example -, click “mappe/maps”. We suggest to print the applicable maps, a total of 5, including the general one.
Another website, this time in English, is worth of attention: It’s that of ASCE (Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe): http://www.significantcemeteries.net/significant/torino/intro.html that also outlines the history of the monumental cemetery of Turin.
Another interesting website shows a remarkable and touching photographic collection in the portal http://www.centoiso.com/work/260107.asp: ”Unusual atmospheres in an unusual place” says the presentation of this fascinating display of images.
Besides the man or the woman who have given prestige to the city of Turin, Piedmont and Italy, I am personally impressed by the ambience, the atmosphere wafting over the surface and most of all in the subterraneans...
Bearing in mind that this mode of tourism requires a particular , sensible form of respect, when I visit the monumental cemetery I pay attention to worn-out photographs, faces of another era, images dating back to the end of the XIX or XX century.
People who really existed, although my imagination as a book reader and film buff identifies them in the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, Horace Walpole, Hoffman Price, Susan Hill… fictitious though extraordinarily effective atmospheres such the ones enjoyed in the old films by Roger Corman interpreted by actors in a state of grace like Vincent Price and Ray Milland..
Comparisons – true death and its theatricals - which find the right balance during such a visit : how much reality is influenced by imagination and how much the complex reality of parting influences the imagination of the human being…
The photographs proposed are intended to present to the future traveler the monumental cemetery of Turin and its mystery, its fascination, its multifaceted sacrality.

Andrea Biscàro



Cimitero Monumentale Nord:
Address: Corso Novara 137, Turin
Public transportation: 19, 68, 75, 77
Summer Schedule ( 21 March – 5 November):
Tuesday through Sunday 8.30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Closes at 6.00 p-m.
Wnter Schedule ( 6 November – 20 March):
Tuesday through Sunday 08:30 a.m – 4:00 p.m. Closes at 4:30 p.m.
Closed on Mondays