Island of San Michele

from: Fisheye Venice

In the Catholic sections of San Michele Cemetery, most graves are dug up after 12 years and the skeletons or shrunken remains of the dead are transferred to metal ossuary boxes. The boxes are then stored permanently in mausoleums. (The cemetery provides watering cans and rolling stairs for the convenience of relatives who want to leave flowers or wash the tombs.)

Warning: If you're buried here and your relatives haven't arranged for perpetual care, your bones will be transferred to a communal ossuary or boneyard after you've done your 12 years of time underground.

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