Rosalia Lombardo a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty was born in
Palermo, Italy on December 13, 1918, and died of pneumonia on December 6, 1920 (over 100 years ago).
Rosalia's father was so distraught by his daughter's death that he turned to
Alfredo Salafia, Sicilian taxidermist and embalmer, to preserve her by any means available. To this day, Rosalia's mummy is considered to be one of the best examples of the embalming process. That is obvious just by looking at her.
Rosalia's mummy can be found at
Catacombe dei Cappuccini (Capuchin Catacombs) in Palermo. She was the last mummy to be admitted to the world famous catacombs in Sicily. And Catacombe dei Cappuccini is a completely fascinating place which, of course, that blog post will be coming soon...
One final note, visitors have reported Rosalia's eyes open and close but Italian scientists have explained it away as just being an optical illusion having to do with the lighting but check out this
YouTube video and decided for yourself. Even if it is a simple illusion, it is kinda creepy.
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