The Capuchin monks have given us a couple of things: first they’ve given their name to the coffee based beverage the Cappucino, due to the similarity between the colours of the beverage and the colours of the cloaks of the monks. Secondly, they’ve given us the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks. On the erstwhile high-class street of Via Veneto is a crypt containing the bones of 4,000 Capuchin friars laid out in ornamental patterns and archways. The crypt is a series of hallways with chambers, each specially dedicated to showcasing the use of a particular bone such as vertebrae, or tibulae. Each chamber also has plenty of skulls. Around 4,000 in total. Creepy? Very. The inscription at the end of the corridor in the last chamber is “Quello voi siete, noi eravamo, quello noi siamo, voi sarete” (What you are, we were, what we are, you will be) Above this is the bones of a child laid out like the grim reaper. Apparently it’s about the sweet embrace of sister death. As gung-ho as they are, they failed to get me excited about death, however the exhibit is fantastic in terms of a creepy attraction.
