Look, I respect sacred places. I don’t like to disturb the deceased. And sometimes I obey signs that say “No Foto/No Film.”
But I couldn’t resist taking a shot of this “No Smoking” sign amid the 8,000 mummified cadavers in Palermo’s Capuchin Catacombs.
Is it a necessary warning? There were no dead people smoking (the last cadaver was put here in 1880) but I did see a visitor chewing on a cigar as surveyed the remains in the “Women’s Section” of the cool (especially on a hot May day) catacombs.
May we all rest in peace.
Forgive me.
Translation: Smoking Forbidden.
This monk has been here for 167 years. Photos: Anonymous
About Joel
Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."
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