07/08/2007. Scarpa’s Cemetery.

This place was spectacular, which is something one does not normally say about a cemetery. There was just such a heightened feeling of reverence while I was there. Not only for the dead whom lie there eternally but for the individual who created that incredible place for mourning. There is definitely a contemporary feel to the architecture there. Scarpa uses sharp corners and intricate details to create something that is very modern. But its grandeur is oddly juxtaposed against the cemetery right next to it. There is an immediate style clash and it is blaringly obvious. In the actual cemetery there lies the history of the Italian culture and how they remember their dead. I think the most surprising part was that each tomb had a picture of its occupant during some part of his or her life. It created a very eerie atmosphere because in the States when one goes to a cemetery you just see a stone maker that is there to show the living relatives where that person lies. You can’t really conceptualize the fact that an actual life is stored there or what is left of a life once lived. But this cemetery had a personality all its own.

And then, there was Scarpa’s grave itself, because not only did he build the cemetery, he also resides there. Yet, I would have missed it had other people’s presence not caught my eye and my curiosity as to what they were looking at. His grave is so humble, off to the side, behind and away from all the others. It was by far the most beautiful grave in the whole place. It was so simple, not needing to be grandiose. If I had not known that he built the place and just stumbled upon it, I would have wondered why the grave was to the side. But it seems that is way he wanted it to be because otherwise he could have built himself the biggest, tallest, most luxurious gravestone in the whole place. But he chooses not to, and you have to respect him for that.