FEATURE OF THE WEEK: the angel of grief

most people trek to the protestant cemetery in the testaccio region in order to see the tombs of john keats and percy shelley. aside from the wonderful quote written on keat's tombstone, 'here lies one whose name was writ in water', neither of their resting places particularly overwhelmed me.

instead, it was this 'angel of grief' or 'weeping angel' that seemed to me to be the most evocative. knowing nothing about it, i snapped away at the tombstone, drawn to the angels long, thick and beautifully carved wings and the monument's sincerity in representing grief. i have since found out that the sculptural tomb marks the burial of william story, and his wife emelyn. story was a well known sculptor in the late 19th century and designed the tombstone himself. there are a number of copies of this original dotted all over the globe.

as cemeteries go, this is a very pleasant one. the tombstones are set upon a gentle slope in an orderly and geometric fashion. the interspersed trees and shrubs makes you feel like you've walked into the secret garden rather than a graveyard. designs range from a poncey colonialist lying pensively on his side accompanied by his pet terrier to a small rectangular block of rough marble simply marking a spot on the ground. situated just behind the tomb of caius cestius (or piramide) which straddles the ancient city  walls, the protestant cemetry is certainly worth ten minutes of your time even if it is just to have a quick look at this angel which so succinctly embodies pain and beauty...
(3 euros is suggested as an offering upon entrance for the upkeep of the cemetery).