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By Laura McCracken 6 minute read
This blog is about a place so calming that I have already dedicated a whole blog to describing how it made me feel - an emotional eclipse . If you have not read it please take a moment to do so now and return to this blog.
I entered the gate with an open mind and intrigue, but I expected that it was simply going to be an interesting place to spend some time, before our next ticketed event. I was wrong. The Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome is its own unique and worthy destination. From the moment you are greeted by the smiles of the volunteers it is a pleasure. The statutes and rows of well maintained stones, beautifully tended plants and sleeping cats, provide beauty on every corner and could not be further away from the hustle and drama of the thriving city beyond the cemetery walls.
Rome, is a city of contradictions - majesty, beauty, history, progress, innovation yet also tragedy, death and horror. There are so many once-in-a-lifetime, iconic sights to take in; it is hard to choose a favorite. But this cemetery, the place we snuck in between all the other amazing locations, turned out to be my unexpected favorite. Maybe it was the stark contrast. Instead of the Colosseum which was the cause of so much death and violence, this restful spot provides the opposite--a place to celebrate lives and bring peace to mourners. Literally a breath of fresh air, as you leave the busy streets enter through the gate, smell the flowers and embrace the quiet. Remains of past grandeur, indulgence and imperious ambition are suddenly replaced by bird song and subtle shades of pastel and green. It is simply peaceful.
The Cats
Bonus - In this cemetery, cats are encouraged to wander freely. As you meander through the beautiful pathways; you are reminded of their presence by dishes of water and food, and by the blankets in shady spots, indented by feline bodies. They are looked after by a charity which adjoins the cemetery. The cats are encouraged to roam as guardians and companions for those laid beneath the soil. Grace and I were super excited about the cats and we were not disappointed they lay on the stone tombs as though hugging the space between existence and repose. Be sure to come in the cooler hours to see the most as they prefer to hide in the shade and buildings as the temperatures peak.
The Poets
One of the reasons tourists visit this cemetery is because the poets Shelley and Keats are
both buried here.
I have always had a certain wonder for where artists, writers and dreamers choose to live; Paris, London, Rome, Venice ? Great minds have a GPS for other great minds and also feed off the beauty and aura of the places they choose to frequent. Shelley chose Italy and frequented Rome often where he befriended Lord Byron. Lots of like-minded artists and writers were drawn to Rome. But Keats chose Rome only when he became sick and was prescribed a sea voyage as a possible reprieve to his illness.
But they are both buried in the same cemetery. Two great minds ended up in the same place. They were not friends or collaborators. In fact Shelley and his friend Lord Byron were sharp, sometimes cruel critics of Keats. But Keats and Shelley rest peacefully a few steps from another, there is no criticism in the others choice of resting place.
Both are considered Romanic Poets; but their styles as there stories, are very different,
John Keats, (1795-1821)
What is more gentle than a wind in summer?
What is more soothing than the pretty hummer
That stays one moment in an open flower,
And buzzes cheerily from bower to bower?
What is more tranquil than a musk-rose blowing
In a green island, far from all men's knowing?
More healthful than the leafiness of dales?
More secret than a nest of nightingales?
More serene than Cordelia's countenance?
More full of visions than a high romance?
What, but thee Sleep? Soft closer of our eyes!
Low murmurer of tender lullabies!
Light hoverer around our happy pillows!
Wreather of poppy buds, and weeping willows!
Silent entangler of a beauty's tresses!
Most happy listener! when the morning blesses
Thee for enlivening all the cheerful eyes
That glance so brightly at the new sun-rise.
First verse of Sleep and Poetry by Keats.
John Keats, died in early 1821 from tuberculosis. He was only 25. Keats was thought to have contracted the infection while taking care of his critically ill brother Tom, who died in 1819. He had trained as an apothecary and left the profession in 1816 to pursue his poetry. (1)
Keat's grave has a companion; that of Joseph Severn, an artist who chose to accompany Keat's on his fateful journey to Rome. Though Severn returned to England, became famous and happily married and finally died at the age of 85 in August 1879 he chose to be beside Keats in Rome in this beautiful cemetery, for eternity. (2)
Percy Bysshe Shelley, (1792-1822)
Shelley was returning home from visiting Lord Byron on his sailing boat named Don Juan after Lord Byron's poem, in the late afternoon of July 8 1822. A violent summer storm took hold and Shelley never made it home. He was only 29 years old.
He is said to have had a book of poems by Keats in his coat pocket when his body was retrieved. (3)
Alas! I have nor hope nor health,
Nor peace within nor calm around,
Nor that content surpassing wealth
The sage in meditation found,
And walked with inward glory crowned—
Nor fame, nor power, nor love, nor leisure.
Others I see whom these surround—
Smiling they live, and call life pleasure;
To me that cup has been dealt in another measure
Yet now despair itself is mild,
Even as the winds and waters are;
I could lie down like a tired child,
And weep away the life of care
Which I have borne and yet must bear,
Till death like sleep might steal on me,
And I might feel in the warm air
My cheek grow cold, and hear the sea
Breathe o’er my dying brain its last monotony.
Last two stanzas of 'Stanzas written in Dejection, Near Naples.'
by Shelley.
The History of the Cemetery.
This cemetery has been active since 1716. According to the ecclesiastical laws of the Catholic Church, Protestants can be buried neither in Catholic churches nor in consecrated ground. But records show that members of the Stuart Court in exile from England were allowed by Pope Clement XI to be buried in front of the Pyramid from 1716 and thereafter the land became a cemetery for Non Catholics.
The Pyramid
Yes the cemetery has a pyramid. Why ?
The Egyptian style became popular in Rome after the Romans conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. It was only a matter of time until an Italian wished to emanate the Egyptian style and grandeur in death.
Perennials
Perennials: plants that exist for many growing years. I love that they chose perennials to plant: a beauty and color that returns every year in celebration of natures rhythm. But, in the Cemetery of Non Catholics spotted between the color of natures perennials are man-made perennials. Statues frozen in time, tributes to lives lived. Eternal in their repose and in their detail. Subtle masters of emotion, these stone perennials wait silently for the flowers to emerge and surround them each year.
I leave this place and my blog with these two lines of Keats in my head.
Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all you need to know
This Cemetery understands and acknowledges these lines well. Beauty is truth in this special place.
For more details about this amazing location go to :https://www.cemeteryrome.it/about/about.html
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Severn
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