• Recent burials (10-15 years) are in the ground in chronological order, not with family

• Older burials (60-70 years) are in small outdoor crypts (moved from ground)

• Spouses are not always entombed together, and are buried with maiden name

• Some family mausoleums like in American big city cemeteries

• Lots of photos on the crypts, frequently blocked by flowers!

• Some older crypts are faded – you can’t read the carving

• Cemetery staff not happy about American tourists with cameras – be discreet

What not to expect

• No you won’t find the ancient gravestone of your 15th century ancestor!

• You may not find anything older than World War I

• Most crypts just have the years, not the complete dates

• It is not the garden-style, multi-acre cemetery we are used to in America

• There may not be a map showing the cemetery layout

• The staff speaks Italian and does not speak English

• You can’t stay into the afternoon – lunch time means you have to go

Information you can find

• Death dates and years much later than the civil records

• Photos of relatives your auntie doesn’t have

• You can learn which relatives went back to Italy and died there

My personal experience

• The staff gave me lots of grief about the camera.

• My Italian relatives convinced the staff that I only wanted 3 or 4 ancestors

• I took pictures of entire walls of crypts at the largest picture setting

• When I could take an entire wall, I put the camera in “Movie” mode and walked

• In Triggiano, all crypts had dates and most had photos

• In Carbonara, crypts only said “Famiglia Abbinante” and no names or dates!