"It might make one in love with death, to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place." Percy Bysshe Shelley
The founding of Rome's Protestant Cemetery goes back to the time of the Stuart's exile in Rome after their failed attempt to claim back the throne of England.
Their followers in the Jacobite cause included non-Catholics who. according to ecclesiastical law, would not have been entitled to a burial in a Catholic church or consecrated ground. The pope at the time, Clement XI donated land to allow such burials to take place.
Other non-Catholics, many of them young people on the Grand Tour, were buried here too.
The most famous of the graves is that of the young poet, Keats, who died at the age of 24. His tombstone is notable as his name is not written anywhere on it. He believed he was dying unknown and forgotten. The film 'Bright Star' opens with an atmospheric scene of the poet's funeral cortege leaving the house at the bottom of the Spanish Steps where he spent the last months of his life.
Alongside lies his friend, Joseph Severn, who had looked after Keats while in Rome before his death.
The small stone in between marks the resting place of Joseph's son, Arthur, who was 'accidently killed' when only a few months old.
Keat's friend, Percy Bysshe Shelley, is also buried in the cemetery. He too died young, aged only 29, as the result of a shipwreck. His stone contains a verse from Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Perhaps the most 'instagrammed' tomb in the cemetery is that of the 'Angel of Grief' designed by William Wetmore Story, an American sculptor, as a monument to his wife.
P A Munch was a notable Norwegian historian who was one of the first non-Catholics to be allowed access to the Vatican archives. His tombstone was recorded for posterity by his nephew, the famous artist, Edvard Munch.
One of the joys of visiting this tranquil spot however is to stroll around and wonder in your mind what stories these stones could tell.....
.....about a boy who loved his books
.....a young girl whose life was interrupted long before her time
and a faithful pet who is with their master in death as in life.
There is also a chapel in the grounds which is open on November 2nd for an All Souls Day service.
Many cats also make the cemetery their home. They are looked after by a group of volunteers.
The cemetery lies in the shade of the Aurelian Walls which incorporates the Pyramid of Cestius, a tomb built for a wealthy officer in the first century AD.
