In Rome, there are places of undeniable charm, although at first glance it might not seem so. Think of a cemetery, for example. It wouldn't come to mind to visit it, not as a first idea. However, I tell you, as your local tour guide, that sometimes taking a walk in a historic cemetery of the Eternal City is worthwhile, at least to spend a little time in contemplation, or to remember personalities who, in one way or another, have left a mark in History. With the famous Pyramid as a backdrop, there is a corner of Rome that attracts for its tranquility, peace, and extreme peculiarity: the non-Catholic cemetery. 

Also called the cemetery of artists, cemetery of poets, and cemetery of the English (from the nationality of the deceased who mostly come from the Anglo-Saxon world), this romantic cemetery, with its tombs and mausoleums, hosts about 4000 burials. A small dividing wall and a moat divide the area into two parts: one older and one a bit more modern. In the first area, it is sometimes even difficult to see the tombs, covered as they are by grass, because it was from here that, for the first time already in the XVIII century, the Holy Church gave the possibility for all non-Catholics to be buried in Rome. A truly historic decision, a completely new cemetery for the Urbe that arose where the so-called fields of the Roman people were. In this area, in fact, the Romans used to bring their livestock to graze, as well as store the wine from the nearby area of the Monti di Cocci. Here, close to the famous Pyramid, it was after all in the extreme outskirts! We are in the Testaccio area, after all, an area that really began to populate only from the end of the XX century. Before, for the locals, being so close to the Aurelian Walls or the Pyramid, vestiges of Rome's glorious past, meant being just a few steps from the open countryside, completely outside the city. Only, however, at the beginning of the XVIII century do we have the first documents indicating the first burials. As in many cemeteries, here too men and women find eternal rest, united exclusively by their non-Catholic faith. Among them, I mention Antonio Gramsci, the famous poet and writer Percy Shelley (who drowned in Viareggio) or John Keats, who in the famous epitaph on his tomb is not even mentioned. It is indeed written "This grave contains all that was mortal, of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET, who on his death bed, in the bitterness of his heart, at the malicious power of his enemies, desired these words to be engraven on his tombstone: Here lies one whose name was writ in water", which means "This grave contains the mortal remains of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET who, on his deathbed, in the bitterness of his heart, at the malicious power of his enemies, wanted these words to be engraved on his tombstone: “Here lies one whose name was writ in water". 

This small example gives an idea of how beautiful it can be, if you'll allow me the term, to walk among the tombs and headstones, some monumental, others true works of art, of the non-Catholic cemetery. A place of apparent death, immobile and eternal, which however allows us to escape for a little from the city chaos and the great crowd of the historic center, to delve into a more intimate contact, if you will, with ourselves. There are also tributes to famous characters. Referring to the epitaph on Keats' tomb, it is nice to note how, a short distance from it, on another burial we can read, as in a silent dialogue: "Keats! If your dear name was written on water, every drop has fallen from the face of those who mourn you".