Capuchin Crypt
Chapels decorated with the bones of Capuchin friars, under the church of Santa Maria della Concezione near Piazza Barberini, Rome.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither Here Nor There | Bill Bryson | subject | Bryson’s grotesque last stop in Rome, “I cannot recommend highly enough”. |
Neither Here Nor There — Bill Bryson (1991)
Source: Readwise highlight
On my final morning I called at the Capuchin monks’ mausoleum in the church of Santa Maria della Concezione off the busy Piazza Barberini. This I cannot recommend highly enough.
- Role: subject
- In the book: The last scene of chapter 13. “In the sixteenth century some monk had the inspired idea of taking the bones of his deceased fellow monks and using them to decorate the place.” Bryson describes half a dozen gloomy chambers with an altar made of rib cages, a complete skeleton dressed like the Grim Reaper, and signs in six languages: WE WERE LIKE YOU. YOU WILL BE LIKE US.
- Why it matters: Rome goes out on comedy, not grandeur: a counterpoint to St Peter’s Basilica a few pages earlier, and the kind of oddity he enjoys most.