Grave with a View

Grave with a view and ouroboros, Old English Cemetery, Via Verdi. (Already posted on Instagram)
Tomba con vista e uroboro, antico cimitero degli inglesi, via Verdi. (Già pubblicato su Instagram)

External links: Ouroboros - Old English Cemetery (Wikipedia)
Link esterni: Uroboro - Antico cimitero degli inglesi (Wikipedia)

The Horner Medallion

Of the many things that happened here during our Pisan exile, the most important was surely the press conference about a very interesting discovery made in the Old English Cemetery.

A lucky afternoon, clearing weeds around the graves, our friends of the Livorno delle Nazioni association found a marble medallion, broken in three pieces, but without any missing part. After some research they found out that the bas-relief was part of the tomb of Francis Horner, who died in Pisa in 1817 of a lung disease, and the author was the renowned sculptor Francis Chantrey. Francis Horner was only 39 when he died, but he was an already well-known Member of Parliament and one of the first politicians of the time to speak out against child labor.

The medallion was probably lost during the bombings of the Second World War and now will hopefully find its place in a local museum, with a copy restored to Horner's tomb.
Thanks to Matteo Giunti, Sarah Thompson and Stefano Ceccarini of Livorno delle Nazioni for the data and the photos used in this post.

See also: Old English Cemetery - New English Cemetery
External links: Francis Horner - Francis Chantrey (Wikipedia)
- Italians unveil long-lost tomb medallion of Scottish MP (The Guardian)
- Long-lost plaque commemorating MP found in Livorno's Old English Cemetery (The Telegraph)
- Great Scots’ Italian burial site ‘falling to ruin’ (The Scotsman)

Versione italiana

Mascagni's Tomb

The red granite sarcophagus of Pietro Mascagni in the “Cimitero della Misericordia” (Mercy Cemetery).

The monumental tomb of the world-famous composer was built on a design by the engineer Vilfrido Vanni.

External links: Pietro Mascagni (Wikipedia)

Versione italiana

Modigliani's Tomb

[Photos by Trillian]

This is not Livorno, but the resting place of one of its most famous sons, Amedeo Modigliani, in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.When in Paris, we often visit Père Lachaise and never miss a few moments at Modigliani's tomb.

In 1920, after not hearing from him for several days, his neighbor checked on the family and found Modigliani in bed delirious and holding onto Hébuterne who was nearly nine months pregnant. They summoned a doctor, but little could be done: Modigliani was dying of the then-incurable disease tubercular meningitis.
Modigliani died on January 24, 1920. There was an enormous funeral, attended by many from the artistic communities in Montmartre and Montparnasse.
Hébuterne was taken to her parents' home, where, inconsolable, threw herself out of a fifth-floor window two days after his death, killing herself and her unborn child. Modigliani was interred at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Hébuterne was buried at the Cimetière de Bagneux near Paris, and it was not until 1930 that her embittered family allowed her body to be moved to rest beside Modigliani. A single tombstone honors them both. His epitaph reads: “Struck down by Death at the moment of glory”. Hers reads: “Devoted companion to the extreme sacrifice”.

(From “Amedeo Modigliani”, Wikipedia)

Search labels: Modigliani
External links: Amedeo Modigliani (Wikipedia)

Versione italiana