Albano cemetery - also known as Cholera cemetery


INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of the 19th century a quick growth in population and city expansion had caused the requirement of a new cemetery. It was built along the street Appia Antica (precisely Via della Stella, 5), outside the residential area of Albano Laziale near the church of St. Maria della Stella.
The cemetery construction was providential, because only 4 years later, there was the first outbreak of Asian Cholera in Albano.1
For this reason it's commonly called "Cholera Cemetery".

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Cemetery plaque ()

"The outbreak of cholera was devastating in the Papal States. Its action, favored by an elevated temperature, was deadly and fulminating."2

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Top view of the cemetery ()

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External view of the cemetery ()

Thanks to the commemorative plaque () we find out that the cemetery was built "aere civium", namely with public administration funds. Moreover Pope Gregory XVI added 200 scudi.3

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It reports :

ANNO M DCCC XXXIII

QVIETI DEFVNCTORIUM IN PACE

CONDITORIVM

AERE CIVIUM COLLATITIO

AB INCHOATO EXTRYCTVM DEDICATVM

CVRANTE IOANNE FRANCISCO FALZACAPPIA

CARD EPISCOPO ALBANEN.

INCOLAE EXTERIQUE

BEATITATEM AETERNAM IISDEM APPROPERATE

PAR OFFICIVM

SERIVS OCIVS RECEPTVRI

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Internal view of the cemetery ()


HISTORY

The first case of Asian cholera in Albano was registered on 5th August 1837 even if it had already bursted in Rome. 170 victims died due to the disease and they were buried in the new cemetery (in the closed wells).

Another epidemy spread only 30 years later, in 1867, which was brought by one of the so many pilgrims who had travelled to Albano on the occasion of the solemn celebrations for the eighteenth centennial of the death of the saints Peter and Paul. The Asian disease claimed 243 victims in about 2 weeks who were hosted in the cemetery.

Most of the Cholera victims were buried with haste in wells. Indeed, only four of them had the honor of an epitaph and an individual burial: the Dutch Zouaves, the queen of Austria Maria Theresa and her child Gennaro.4

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An example of closed well ()

Queen Maria Theresa of Austria was in Albano during the outbreak of Cholera and she decided to stay there in order to treat and take care of her young son, the Count of Caltagirone. Eventually, she caught the disease and died, victim of the maternal love.5

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Commemorative plaque of queen Maria Theresa ()

It reports:

MARIAE THERESIAE ARCHIDUCIS AUSTRIACAE

FERDINANDI II UTRIUSQUE SICILIAE REGIS VIDUAE

EJUSQUE FILII PRINCIPIS JANUARII BORBONI

JUSSU FRANCISCI II UTRIUSQUE SICILIAE REGIS

RAINERUS BORBONIUS CASTRI DUX

IN NEAPOLITANAM BASILICAM SANCTAE CLARAE

CINERES TRANSFERENDOS CURAVIT

A(nno)D(omini) MCMLXII


THE DUTCH ZOUAVES

The clergy and the soldiers took care of the patients and buried the corpses, behaving admirably and bravely in front of diffucuties. In particular way, the Papal Zouaves, an infantry force formed in order to defend the Papal States, were turned into nurses.

The 42 Zouaves who had arrived at Albano found the country in a dramatic situation. For instance, the inhabitants left a lot of corpses in the main square in a state of decomposition because they didn't want to risk to catch the disease by buring the corpses.

Over the next few days the Zouaves carried the corpses to the cemetery and buried them, but unfortunately six of them got sick and four died.

Moreover, the ecclesiastical authorities summoned some doctors, priests and assistance office staff, who brought drugs and anything available to treat and assist people suffering from cholera.6

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Commemorative plaque of the Dutch Zouaves ()

It reports:

ALLA MEMORIA GLORIOSA

DEGLI OLANDESI

VANDER MEYDEN

PETERS

VAN OPHEM

ZUAVI PONTIFICII

CHE NELL’INVASIONE CHOLERICA

DELL’ANNO MDCCCLXVII

CADDERO VITTIMA D’EROICA CARITA’

ALBANO RICONOSCENTE


SOME OTHER DETAILS OF THE CEMETERY

Nowadays funeral monuments are located along the walls of the cemetery enclosure, some of them presenting intact headstones or fragments. In many cases funeral inscriptions are preceded by an invocation to God in the short form D O M or by a christogram with letters alfa ( A ) and omega ( Ω ).
The wells are located in the middle of the cemetery and we can also see a crucifix on the south wall.7

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An example of a tomb ()

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Commemorative plaque ()

It reports :

ALLA MEMORIA

DI

ANNA MONTIROLI NATA LORI

CHE NELL’ETA’ DI XXXV ANNI INCOMPIVTI

DOPO XV DI NODO CONJVGALE

PER MORBO LVNGO ED ANGOSCIOSO ERA RAPITA

AI SVOI CHE L’AMAVANO

IL GIORNO VI MAGGIO MDCCCLV

GIOVANNI

CONSORTE INCONSOLABILE POSE

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South wall of Cholera cemetry ()

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Entrance of the cemetery ()

  • Photos and main text by Marta Alfano ti.liamtoh|onafla.m#| and Francesco Ojeda Fraschina ti.liamtoh|adejo.ocsecnarf#| (December 2018), courtesy of the director of "Musei civici di Albano".

Bibliography

  • Pino Chiarucci, Il cimitero storico di Albano, Musei civici di Albano, Albano Laziale 2004, pp. 9-35

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