Certosa monumental cemetery is one of the oldest cemetery of Europe, a monument that has a worldwide importance, a place that is unique for the sculpture and the architecture of the XIX and the XX century.
The Etruscan tombs in the Certosa town Cemetery were discovered between 1869 and 1871 and they led to a successful series of archaelogical excavations, directed by the Bolognese archaeologist Antonio Zannoni, which clarified the historical and topographical reconstruction of the city. The materials coming from the tombs, which date back to the middle of VI and IV century b. c. , are now in the Etruscan wing of the Archaeological Civic Museum.
In 1800, the Health Commission of the Reno Department, decided to use the former S. Girolamo Certosa as a cemetery area. The Certosa had all the requirements: it was placed out of the town, in a perfect place for the hydraulic network and the free air circulation. It officially opened in 1801 while in 1802 the architect Ercole Gasparini planned the new monumental entrance with big pillars topped by statues. In 1811 Gasparini planned a portico that linked the cemetery to the Sanctuary of San Luca.
The first places that are used as a cemetery are the third cloister, the entrance cloister, the pity hall and the tombs hall. From the tombs hall, an ancient recreation rooms of the monks, you can have access to the tombs lodge and from here you can go through the Gemina Hall. The catacombs hall (1827) leads to the three aisles gallery that ends with the Colombario. At the center of the rooms stand out some of the most famous monuments of the cemetery (Pepoli-Murat e Angelelli).
The most recent Campo degli Ospedali collects Art Nouveau monuments along the boundary wall, at the center the cemetery hosts the Ossuary of the fallen Partisans by the architect Piero Bottoni. Next to the cemetery there are the place assigned to the non-Catholic persons, the Jewish cemetery, a crematory area and a cinerary.