“Non tutti hanno una cripta” Mummie, turismo e patrimonializzazione in Sicilia “Not everyone has a crypt” Mummies, tourism, and heritage-making in Sicily

• Published in: Etnoantropologia Vol. 11; no. 2
• Main Author: Rebecca Sabatini
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: CLUEB 01-12-2023
• Subjects: cultural heritage; dark tourism; eritage-making; mummies; thanatourism
• ISSN: 2284-0176

The Capuchins’ Catacombs of Palermo are not the main tourist attraction of the city, however they receive a high number of visitors representing the niche travel market named “dark tourism”. Even though studies have proven that it is not possible to identify a specific traveller known as “dark tourist”, explicitly interested in locations wholly or partly connected to death or sufferings, they highlighted the existence of a building interest to visit sites relating to death and burial grounds, such as crypts and cemeteries. The Capuchins of Palermo were specialists in the Modern Era mummification techniques, but they were not the only ones. In fact, in Sicily today, you can find a great number of similar sites (e.g. Gangi, Savoca) that are involved in important heritage conservation and heritagization processes aiming to attract and generate economic and tourism growth.