Databases of Burials
Digital archive for information retrieval
INFOPOINT
Our databases of burials
This database is a philological tool. Please note that the entries seek to reflect the ways in which the records were kept at the time of the records’ creation.
Historically, names have been transcribed differently over time. For example, ‘John’ could become ‘Giovanni’, explaining why some records talk about a certain “Giovanni Keats”.
Transcribing from one writing system to another is also problematic. Consider names written in the Cyrillic alphabet. They have followed different norms over the centuries, hence the painter Брюллов is known as both Brjullov and Brullov. Both versions are imperfect, but considered correct.
- INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONSULTATION
Search by name
Insert under ‘SURNAME OR FIRST NAME’ one of the names of the person. Inserting only the letters ‘Franc’ will be sufficient to yield all surnames and names containing those letters. This can be useful if you are not sure of the correct spelling or if the Italian form of a forename has been used for a non-Italian.
other search criteria
You can also search using the father’s forename or the mother’s forename or maiden name; or by CITIZENSHIP (use the pulldown list to find the right country); or by PLACE OF BIRTH (you may have to use the Italian form of the name, e.g., Londra for London or Monaco for Munich).
search by date
You can also use the SEARCH BY DATE button (top left) by inserting a date-range for either BIRTH or DEATH. Click on ‘SEARCH’ for the relevant results.
- How to read a burial record
- Click on ‘SEARCH’ below. The person’s name will appear. Click on this name and various data will appear.
- This provides:
- The person’s names as known now or, if different, as recorded by the Cemetery at death.
- The tomb number as listed in the Cemetery’s own records.
- Its location by zone (for example ‘A’ = Old Cemetery, ‘V’ = Zona Vecchia of the New Cemetery).
- A photo of the tomb as it was in 2012 in the case of older, not recent, burials. Below the photo, the type of monument and technique of the inscription are given, together with the names of others buried in the same tomb. A photo of an ossuary signifies that the person has been exhumed.
- Under GRAVESTONE, the numbers (e.g., S2240) are live links to the monuments recorded in 1984-86 during a survey directed by S.P.Q. Rahtz for the British School at Rome and the Swedish Institute in Rome (Cf. the ‘Graves Database’ below). This survey transcribed the inscriptions on the tombs and noted the form of the tombs, assigning its own numbers (e.g., S2240). The Graves Database, which contains all graves that existed in 1986, can be found at this link. Note, however, that the database has not been updated since the conclusion of the survey.
Epigraphic subdivision of our database
by Sebastian Rahtz at the University of Oxford IT Services
There is another database called the “Graves Database”, which stemmed from a survey conducted by Sebastian Rahtz in 1984-86. The data from research has been integrated into our INFOPOINT.
- a detailed study conducted in 1984-86
In Rahtz’s Graves Database, you can search by name or surname of the deceased, by the year of death, or by the Gravestone S number (note that this is not the Tomb number in the Cemetery’s own records). In some cases you can find details, including the inscriptions, of monuments that are no longer extant, the burials having been transferred to ossuaries since 1986. Some of the removed gravestones and their inscriptions are preserved in the Lapidarium in the Zona Terza.
