Search results for

At street level, the Capuchin monastery might seem like many other historic churches in Palermo. But once you go below ground, you’ll encounter the most unusual and macabre display in the city. More than 8,000 mummified bodies are interred in its catacombs, some stacked on wooden shelves, others standing or hanging upright along the walls. The oldest resident is a friar named Silvestro da Gubbio, who dates from 1599; among the more recent arrivals is two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo, who died in 1920 and is so eerily well preserved that she’s been nicknamed Sleeping Beauty.

Located on the outskirts of Mdina in Rabat, these sites pay homage to the great Apostle Paul himself who along with 274 others were shipwrecked just off Malta around 60AD on their way to Rome. Legend has it that the survivors took refuge in a grotto, above which a church and monument were later built in his honor. The Catacombs, which represent the earliest evidence of Christianity in Malta, are a labyrinthian set of underground cemeteries that feel like something straight out of Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom. Covering an area of over 21,000 square feet, they twist and turn with dozens and dozens of hypogea (chambers) once used for burials. It’s a great place to wander on a hot day as it’s cool down there (and only €5 to visit!)