Journal 1

Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini

Probably the most unforgettable solo excursion was my visit to the Capuccin crypt. Initially I thought it was a small church with a note worthy cemetery. I wasn’t really interested in it because I wanted to go to the church that housed the depiction of St. Theresa on fire. It was shown in Angels and Demons and I wanted to see it but Guerry said that Dan subtly challenged her to go to it. I wasn’t up to argue, and just wanted to get the assignment done so I agreed to go.

When we found it, we weren’t really sure what to do. We didn’t know how to get into the church so it led for an awkward five minutes. We then saw a line forming off to the side of the main entrance. As we waited in line we debated what there was to see and why Dan thought we would never forget it. I was confused, as I didn’t see a cemetery entrance anywhere. We donated a few euro and boy, I was not prepared for what we saw that day.

The first “room” was covered in bones. I was confused as to what was going one. I saw skulls stacked on top of each other. The bones all seemed to be organized and shaped into patterns. Guerry then told me to look up and I did. What I saw was a chandelier/hanging candle thing made completely of bone. I was freaked out and walked from underneath it. As we kept walking the next room was even creepier. There were full skeleton remains made up in positions still with their friar robes.

The walls were decorated with different bones from the body. It seemed like every bone was used for something. The last room made me very uncomfortable. There were about four full skeletons of what I assume are children. They were smaller than the priests seen in the other rooms. I wanted to get out once I saw that and surely enough we did. All we could do was gasp and reflect on what exactly we had just seen. I still am not sure how that was even possible. Dan was right, I wont be forgetting that anytime soon.