THE EXHUMATION OF FARINELLI'S REMAINS
AT THE CERTOSA OF BOLOGNA

by Luigi Verdi

The events regarding Farinelli’s grave are well known. The grave, which had been thought lost, was found at the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna (Chiostro Maggiore a Levante, arch 121) in 1995; and in 2000 the tombstone was restored by the Centro Studi Farinelli as an project of architect Vincenzo Lucchese, as part of the events of “Bologna Capitale Europea della Cultura” (Bologna as a European Capital of Culture), due to contributions of the Reale Collegio di Spagna, the Comune di Bologna-Settore Cultura (Culture Department), and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna. The tomb also holds the remains of Farinelli’s grand-niece Maria Carlotta Pisani.
Since 1998, the Centro Studi Farinelli has been actively involved in commemorating the famous castrato singer - who lived and died in Bologna in 1782. The steps leading the Centro Studi Farinelli to propose the exhumation of Farinelli include several important events, including as the exhibition “Il Farinelli a Bologna”, organized for the Soprintendenza ai Beni Ambientali e Architettonici dell’Emilia Romagna, part of the “Terza Settimana della Cultura” (2001) and later reorganized at the Museo Internazionale et Biblioteca della Musica in Bologna (2005); the inauguration of the city park bearing the name of the famous singer (2002), near the site where the Villa lived in by the famous singer was located; the international conference “Il Farinelli e gli evirati cantori” on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Farinelli’s birth (2005); and publication of the book “Il fantasma del Farinelli” (2005).
When the Centro Studi Farinelli contacted the antiquarian Alberto Bruschi, who in turn had already located the tomb independently, the historical-scientific project of exhuming the famous castrato began. The preparatory activity allowing this extraordinary event took about nine months, and its stages are briefly explained in the following. At the first meeting with Alberto Bruschi in Florence in October 2005, not only did he promote the idea of the exhumation by emphasising its historical-scientific relevance, but he also offered to sponsor it.
At its meeting on 31 October 2005, the Board of Directors of the Centro, composed of Francesca Boris, Maria Pia Jacoboni, Vincenzo Lucchese, Carlo Vitali, and Luigi Verdi, agreed to this proposal unanimously. The Rector of the Reale Collegio di Spagna, José Guillermo Garcia Valdecasas, the Honorary Chairman of the Centro Studi Farinelli, and the Chairman Patrick Barbier also agreed to the proposal.
After this agreement, Alberto Bruschi contacted Gino Fornaciari, Professor of the History of Medicine and Director of the Paleopathology Department of the University of Pisa, who at that time was involved in the analysis of the Medici remains in the Medici chapels in Florence and who is an important expert in historical exhumations. Prof. Fornaciari arranged a schedule for the project. Maria Giovanna Belcastro (Laboratory of Bioarchaeology and Forensic Osteology of the University of Bologna and Director of the Anthropology Museum of the same University) also offered to cooperate in the exhumation.
The Centro Studi Farinelli consulted on the technical-administrative proceedings necessary for the exhumation with Mario Felicori, who is in charge of the “Museo della Certosa” (Cemetery Museum), which is part of the project “Nuove Istituzioni Museali” (New Museum Institutions) of the Comune di Bologna (Department of Culture and Relations with the University). Roberto Martorelli of the Comune di Bologna, Department of Public Works, who has been working on a detailed inventory of the historical tombs at the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna, contributed to initiating the administrative procedures, which were rather complex because this was first case historical exhumation in Bologna.
In January 2006, letters requesting permission for the exhumation were sent to the Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale of Bologna, specifically to Fausto Francia, Director of the Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica (Department of Public Health), Andrea Minarini, Director of the U.O. Medicina Legale e Accertativa (Department of Investigative and Forensic Medicine), and Annarosa Giannoni, Director of the U.O. Profilassi Malattie Infettive (Department of Infectious Disease Prophylaxis).
After the favourable opinion of the AUSL on 1 February 2006 (requiring that the exhumation be attended by technicians of Public Health), the request was directed to Ruggero Albertazzi, Executive of the Environment Department of Hera Bologna, the firm managing the cemeterial and burial services of the Certosa of Bologna; and then, on 8 April, it was forwarded to the director of such services, Michele Gaeta. After the favourable decision of Hera Bologna, all documents were sent to the Health Department of the Comune di Bologna, specifically to its director, Emanuela Dall’Olmi. The procedure, entrusted to Claudio Bartolomei, was submitted to the Councillor of the Health Department of the Comune di Bologna, Giuseppe Paruolo; then followed the final authorisation dated 1 June 2006, after the historical registry office of Bologna had made certain that no heirs of Farinelli owning the tomb had been found.
Concurrently, the Centro Studi Farinelli had undertaken research ascertaining that Farinelli’s niece, Maria Carlotta Pisani, was first married to Count Francesco Lucci and had given birth to a daughter, Anna Lucci; the latter married the Florentine Niccolò Arrighi and had given birth to two children, Camilla and Carlo Arrighi. After Count Lucci’s death, Maria Carlotta married secondly Captain Giuseppe Tadolini; her daughter Anna Lucci was left a widow and married secondly Raffaele Bruti. Anna Lucci’s daughter, Camilla Arrighi, married Vincenzo Lamberti, from Pistoia, and had three children, Lamberto, Mario, and Carlotta, while her son Carlo Arrighi, born in 1814, married a Bolognese noblewoman who bore him a daughter named Carolina.
Alberto Bruschi’s efforts furthered the project and provided the necessary financial support. After the authorisation by the Comune di Bologna, the corresponding acknowledgement was sent to the Coordinator of the Mortuary Police Office, Mrs. Lorenza Albertini.
In early June 2006, Luigi Verdi and Carlo Vitali, of the Centro Studi Farinelli, and Maria Giovanna Belcastro, Benedetta Bonfiglioli, and Antonio Todero, of the Laboratory of Bioarchaeology and Forensic Osteology of the University of Bologna, agreed with the Director of the Health Department of Bologna, Emanuela Dall’Olmi, on the general procedure and worked out an official protocol to be used as a model for further work. In order to continue, it was also necessary to involve the Soprintendenza per il Patrimonio Storico e Artistico e Entoantropologico di Bologna (Superintendent Luigi Malnati and Inspectress Renata Curina) and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Emilia Romagna (Superintendent Franco Faranda and Inspectress  Elena Rossoni).
In order to carry out planned analyses of Farinelli’s remains, also acoustician David Howard (Department of Electronics, University of York) was also involved.
Then, arrangements for the exhumation required meetings at the Laboratory of Bioarchaeology of the University of Bologna and the Certosa Cemetery. After one of the on-the-spot investigations, it was arranged with Hera technician Ruggero Zanetti to send another request to authorise direct intervention on the remains by scientists, to the Director of the U. O. Medicina Legale (Forensic Medicine) of Emilia Romagna’s health service; this step was carried out by Maria Caterina Manca, forensic doctor/manager of the AUSL of Bologna.
Patrizia Romagnoli, of the Press Office of the University of Bologna, and Carlo Vitali of the Centro Studi Farinelli were in charge of the press relations, while the Hera funeral services was requested to authorise TV and photo coverage. Another request was sent to the Comune di Bologna, Health Department, to obtain the authorisation to remove Farinelli’s remains, which will be kept at the university laboratories at Bologna and Pisa for about a year. In fact, the famous singer’s remains will be replaced in the tomb after a long period of research.
The exhumation took place on 12 July 2006 beginning at 6.30 a.m. It was undertaken by a highly skilled scientific staff, including paleopathologist Gino Fornaciari, of the University of Pisa; archaeologist Antonio Fornaciari, of the University of Siena; and anthropologists Maria Giovanna Belcastro and Fiorenzo Facchini, of the Department of Experimental Evolutionary Biology of the University of Bologna. Also participating were the staffs of the Laboratory of Bioarcheology and Forensic Osteology (Benedetta Bonfiglioli, Chiara Consiglio, Elisa Rastelli, Valentina Mariotti) and the Anthropology Museum (Antonio Todero) of the University of Bologna; Sandra Mazzoli, ASL manager in Florence and in charge of the microbic DNA analysis; and Marco Marchesini, of the Project “Pollens and Allergies” of the Centro Agricoltura Ambiente (Agriculture/Environment Centre), who undertook analysis of pollens and wood.
Also present were Antonio Giuseppe Naccarato, Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Pisa, and Monica Bietti, director of the Medici Chapel in Florence (where an exhumation on the Medici remains has recently been undertaken).
Farinelli’s remains were to the side of the burial vault, and were clearly distinct from those of his grand-niece Maria Carlotta Pisani. The latter was in a supine position, her bones mixed with decomposed wood fragments, while Farinelli’s remains had already been reduced in the course of another previous exhumation, probably into a cloth sack.
The press conference after the exhumation was reported world-wide by many newspapers.
A few days previously, at the Certosa Cemetery, the tomb of another famous Bolognese singer – Antonio Maria Bernacchi (1685-1756, whose 200th death anniversary falls in 2006) - had been found. Then there is news of other tombs of famous castrato singers: Vincenzo Lucchese reports the tomb of another famous castrato singer, Gaspare Pacchierotti (1744-1821) at Mandria, Padua (property Alberto Zemella). Stefano Gizzi located the tomb of Domenico Gizzi (1687-1758), in Naples in the Church of Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco. Nicola Lucarelli reports that castrato singer Domenico Bruni (1758-1821) was buried in the Church of S. Bernardino di Umbertide (PG), and Nicholas Clapton published news of the tomb of the last castrato singer Alessandro Moreschi, which is in Rome, Cimitero del Verano, panel 31/bis no. 2; the memorial tablet reads: ANGELO MORESCHI “THE ANGEL OF ROME.” SINGER OF THE CAPPELLA SISTINA. Other exhumations of famous castrato singers might be undertaken in the future for a comparative analysis with Farinelli’s remains.