campo cestio

on tuesday we took a field trip to a well-known cemetery in rome called campo cestio. it has been around for centuries, with the main pyramid dating back to 30 bc. the focal point in the cemetery is an enormous pyramid that was built after the death of the roman emperor caius. he specifically wrote in his will that he wanted to be buried inside of a pyramid, but that the pyramid needed to be built in under 355 days. this task was completed, and his remains were placed beneath the structure.

entrance to the cemetery

in the 1730s, the campo cestio was built around the pyramid. this cemetery was specifically for non-catholics, who were non-italians but residents of rome. the only condition that allowed someone who was catholic to be buried here was if they were married to a non-catholic who was placed in the cemetery. campo cestio is still an active cemetery today, but due to space restrictions they only have a burial once or twice a month.

pyramid of caius

john keats’ burial site is one of the main attractions in this cemetery, along with others such as percy shelley and joseph severn. the headstones here are pretty fascinating, with all of the intricate stonework and different religious inscriptions. they have many different cultures and religions buried here, including muslims, russian orthodox, jewish descent, and more.

keat's and severn's graves

besides all of the neat headstones, they also have a cat colony. you notice in a lot of tourist spots there are usually a lot of animals (just like all of the dogs at pompeii). well there is an organization at campo cestio that actually organizes to put food out for the cats and they are all vaccinated, which is really nice.

cat colony

you can see their cat bowls under the shelves

you can tell how old this one if from all of the black from pollution

i think i am going to model my headstone after this one

dog included

petals

if you follow my blog then you know that i love angels. these two angels were my favorite in the cemetery. the angel of sorrow is actually a famous one with a replica at stanford university.

i love this angel

angel of sorrow

i really liked visiting this cemetery. it was really neat to see the close isles of graves because it gave it a really intimate feeling. and all of the headstones were so personal, which made it seem like you could understand the person who was buried there. i recommend going and just walking through it because it really is beautiful.