If you're a lover of the macabre Rome has some fine skeletons for you. Some are relics; others, sculptures.
At the Capuchin church in Via Veneto, visit the crypt (there's a small admission fee) to see the remains of mummified monks. Some stand gloomily surveying the scene; the bones of others have been used to decorate the walls and ceiling with a morbid imitation of rococo plasterwork.
In Santa Maria del Popolo you'll find two of my favourites. At the back of the church, an artist created his own tomb, with a skeleton in the closet - grinning out at you from behind a grille. And in the floor of the nave there's a brass skull and crossbones marking a grave. Don't forget the skeleton in the floor of the Chigi chapel, either - a marvellous work in many coloured marble.
More skulls and skeletons on the little church of Santa Maria della Orazione e della Morte, in Via Giulia. This was the headquarters of a guild that helped bury 'unclaimed' bodies - of prisoners who had been executed, or drowned men washed up in the Tiber - so the skulls are quite appropriate. A tasty litle skeleton invites you to drop a donation in the collecting box.
Visit San Silvestro in Capite to see the head of John the Baptist. Or rather, one of them. I've now collected two - one in Amiens, France, and this one here. Apparently there's one in Damascus and that's where I want to go next.
Other bodies abound - Santa Francesca Romana lies in state in the church named after her just off the Forum, while Saint Filippo Neri lies in the Chiesa Nuova (his face replaced by a silver mask).
But the most dramatic skeletons are those in St Peter's, by Bernini. These are on the papal tombs in the east end of the basilica - not always open to the public, unfortunately. These skeletons are real characters; one writes the name of the dead Pope in his book of fame, the other rises up, half-hidden in the marble shround that covers the base of the tomb, brandishing an hourglass. A real sense of drama and the most gorgeous baroque treatment, in fine marble and gilt bronze.
