200 coffins in Golfo Paradiso – an Italian cemetery sank at sea

Suddenly, the seagulls sitting on the roofs of the West Wing took off high above Golfo Paradiso. That was an unmistakable sign, a terrible advertisement. A worker filmed with his mobile phone, it happened very quickly, and then the front of the ancient Camogli cemetery with its seven-story wall and four family chapels fell into the sea. Aloud.

200 coffins slid into the water, some shook over the waves. Tombstones and urns ended in the rubble and mud. A shocking sight at the beautiful Golfo Paradiso on the Ligurian Coast, not far from Genoa.

There were no visitors at the cemetery when it happened at some point. This section is closed on Mondays. But some time ago, not many people dared to go there to lay flowers for their loved ones. They learned about the fragile soil under the amazingly located cemetery, which was built more than 150 years ago, and the last resting place for sailors, shipbuilders and fishermen – the Sea People.

The earth under the graves has been eroding for some time. In recent years, storms have often hit rocks in a way we’ve never seen here before. As a result of climate change? Then it rained incessantly that winter, sometimes for weeks. “Such a rockfall is unpredictable,” says Camogli’s mayor, Francesco Olivari.

You should know that Olivari is a geologist. But of course he too had anticipated the event. Work has continued to strengthen the edge since last fall, and the Italian state has provided millions of aid. It is not just nature that nibbles and spreads on the popular coast. Destroyed by decades of construction speculation, the area came to squeeze tons of weight onto the fragile ground, and riverbeds were often poured with concrete to make more space for real estate.

Coffin oil barriers

Camogli is a picturesque little place with colorful houses and an old fishing port, which in summer injects itself into a mid-sized city with secondary homeowners from Milan and Turin and with tourists from abroad.

Now the coffins were washed in the beautiful harbor, and piled up on the sidewalk. Coastal Police have immediately placed oil booms in the Gulf, as they are being used to contain oil spilled after environmental disasters. The partitions are designed to intercept coffins floating in the sea – with the bones of people who spent their lives at sea.

Posted today at 11:40 am