Celebrating Life in Palermo’s Capuchin Crypt

I’ll admit it — I’ve always been intrigued by human bones.

We’re in Sicily, filming two new episodes of Rick Steves’ Europe — and today we brought the camera to Palermo’s Capuchin Crypt. While we were there, I took a walk and chatted with a Capuchin friar. Among the contorted faces of his dead brothers, still wearing their brown robes — “bodies without souls,” as he called them — he shared with me why I might love to be surrounded by human bones. He said that being there brings him peace because it reminds him that life is transitory, and something much greater awaits. In a beautiful way, if you believe in God, this crypt — so full of dead bodies — is a celebration of life.