Perhaps the most historically significant place for the Jewish Community of Milan is the Monumental Cemetery, where, for nearly a century and a half, the remains of its most illustrious members have been preserved, bearing witness to their deeds and thoughts, as well as the bones of unknown men and children. Since 1870, over 1,800 Jews have been buried there in about ten splendid family chapels, around a thousand graves, often monumental, along with two hundred columbaria and an equal number of ossuaries, which are uncommon in Jewish tradition. This is an extraordinary artistic and cultural heritage, not widely known, but it bears witness like no other document to the nature and role of Milanese Judaism[1]. Yet, this place, where “both the characteristics of Jewish culture and the profound roots and assimilation of the Community within the social fabric of the city are evident”[2], is rarely mentioned in guides and is not a frequent destination for visitors.
If, before emancipation, small Jewish cemeteries could be found outside city walls in Italy, the situation changed profoundly afterward. New cemeteries were established “in more peripheral areas of the cities or situated near municipal cemeteries, or by setting up Jewish sections within large city cemeteries.”[3]
In Milan, toward the end of the 1860s, after more than fifteen centuries in which Jews had been kept outside the city, the small Jewish cemetery of Porta Vercellina, like the previous cemeteries at Porta Tenaglia and Porta Magenta, proved inadequate for the growing community, bolstered by strong immigration from over seventy small Italian and European cities. To recognize the role Jews had assumed in the economic, cultural, and political fabric of the city, the Municipality of Milan allocated a special section of the new large Monumental Cemetery to them. This cemetery was designed by Carlo Maciachini, an architect who was then unknown but had won the design competition. Initially, the section dedicated to Jews, located east of the main entrance and symmetrically positioned to the non-Catholic section, contained only three plots. However, it soon became necessary to expand its perimeter to the south and east to allow for three more plots, in addition to an “extension.” Even this proved insufficient, and from 1895 onward, the Municipality provided part of the new Greater Cemetery, known as Musocco: this became Field VIII. From that point, the Monumental Cemetery reserved burials only for prominent Jews, while others were interred at Musocco.
A study of the tombstones and graves in the Jewish Section of the Monumental Cemetery shows how, over the course of the 19th century, symbols of Jewish culture intertwined with those of Italian civil society in a slow process of integration and assimilation. This demonstrates, on the one hand, the contribution made by community members to city life, and, on the other hand, the way the craftsmanship of the monuments often diverged from Jewish orthodoxy, instead echoing Christian models. This is especially evident when sculpted faces of the deceased or those close to them are found, or other symbols distant from Mosaic traditions, or when Jews are buried in columbaria, cremated and then buried, or when Hebrew inscriptions are sparse.[4] The tragic experience of Fascism and Nazism would interrupt this phenomenon. Consequently, the new cemetery erected next to the Greater Cemetery between March 1938 and June 1939 (around the time of the racial laws) and still in use today, presents a much greater simplicity and adherence to traditional Jewish customs.
On this site, alongside a brief history of Milan’s Jewish community over the past twenty centuries, we deemed it useful to include a short discussion of the concept of death in Jewish culture and a description of the Mosaic funeral rite, including the ancient custom of reciting the Kaddish and placing small stones on graves. The site also illustrates the cemetery’s general structure before moving on to a detailed description of the sixty-seven main tombs, considering both their architectural features and the history and role of the deceased in Milanese society. A guided tour that will reveal the hidden charm of this enchanting place.
Notes
[1] Carla De Bernardi e Lalla Fumagalli (a cura) “Un Museo a celo aperto. Il Cimitero Monumentale di Milano” 2013; Anna Linda Callow, “Epitaffi del Cimitero Monumentale e del Cimitero Maggiore di Milano”, in a cura di Stefania T. Salvi, “Tra Cultura Diritto e Religione, Sinagoghe e cimiteri ebraici in Lombardia, Corberi Sapori Editori, Milano, 2013
[2] Giovanna Ginex e Ornella Selvafolta, “Il Cimitero Monumentale di Milano” Silana Editore, 1999, p. 189
[3] Andrea Morpurgo, “Il cimitero ebraico in Italia. Storia e architettura di uno spazio identitario” Quodlibet Studio. Città e paesaggio. Saggi, 2013
[4]Anna Linda Callow, “Epitaffi del Cimitero Monumentale e del Cimitero Maggiore di Milano”, in a cura di Stefania T. Salvi, “Tra Cultura Diritto e Religione, Sinagoghe e cimiteri ebraici in Lombardia, Corberi Sapori Editori, Milano, 2013
