The Staglieno cemetery covers an area of more than 300 thousand square meters, huge extension divided between two souls: the more strictly artistic and monumental arcades and galleries and the more open and dominated by the nature parts of the evangelist cemetery and the chapels and graves of the upper "boschetto irregolare". It's hard to remain indifferent to this place that requires many hours to be visited and observed fully with the necessary calm. Its undeniable fascination is also given by the maze of narrow streets and stairways that connect the various parts of the cemetery on different levels offering contrasting perspectives of open horizons and dark corners. In this place, everything changes as the sun moves and every corner has its own magical moment during the day, sometimes you meet it, sometimes you don't.
Inside the cemetery normally you are allowed to take photos holding camera in your hands (of course respecting people and things), but to use a tripod you need a written permission from the municipal administration: normally you obtain it without problems asking to the address in the "info" section of the Staglieno dedicated site of the Municipality of Genoa, where you will also find maps and general information about the cemetery and the most famous monuments:
--->Staglieno Cimitero Monumentale
I took all the pictures without tripod, they're not perfect at all, and avoiding the use of flash light because it reveals all the damages of neglect, weather, and layers of dust and, more importantly, prevents those contrasts of light and shadow that make the monuments somehow alive.
I have also chosen to avoid the black and white because I think that colors are an important part of the fascination of this place where life and death are intertwined as well as light and shadow.
This may be an unusual point of view of the Staglieno cemetery. It's not a tribute to art, it's a tribute to an enchanted place.