Chiesa dei Morti (Church of the Dead)

Chiesa dei Morti, or the Church of the Dead, is a tiny church—and the main attraction—in Urbania, a lively medieval town located in central Italy.

As soon as visitors enter through the Baroque doorway of the cola chapel, which was commissioned by Cola di Cecco in 1380. In the cemetery, 18 mummies are standing in individual glass cases that have been on display behind the altar since 1833. Naturally mummified by the presence of a combination of the soil and the shrouds they were buried in that sucked all of the moisture out of the bodies, when they were kept above ground they got as hard as stone.

A tour guide will be able to tell you how each of the mummies passed away. One, which suffered from Down’s syndrome, died of heart failure; a 15-year-old girl who died of a caesarean section (large cruciform incision on the abdomen, without anesthesia and awake, her life sacrificed for that of her child), one was run over by carts, had osteoporosis, diabetes, a miner with lung cancer, a man allegedly stabbed to death at a dance. One man was hanged and still stands in the position in which he was hanged.

The most terrifying death is of a man buried alive and died of suffocation, probably because it was thought he was already dead. In 2002, National Geographic started an investigation; a small hole was drilled in the lungs and soil was found, confirming the cause of death.

In the middle we see the last abbot of the brotherhood and founder of the crypt, Vincenzo Piccini, in his typical clothing (white robe with black cloak) his wife and son are on the far left case. These three are also mummified, but in a different way. Piccini was a chemist and tried to mimic the mummification process for his family.

The Brotherhood of Good Death, a group founded more than 400 years ago in 1567, is responsible for the mummy display. The original goals of the brothers were to provide free burial for the dead and keep a record of the deaths.