camposanto

Camposanto is an Italian toponym meaning “holy field” and may refer to more than one place in Italy. The term is most commonly associated with two sites: a municipality in Emilia-Romagna and a historic cemetery in Pisa.

Camposanto in Emilia-Romagna: Camposanto is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It lies in a rural area of the Po Valley and is characterized by agriculture and small-scale industry. The municipality covers several frazioni and small villages and, like many communes in the region, has a landscape of farmland bordered by the Apennines.

Camposanto Monumentale in Pisa: The Camposanto Monumentale di Pisa, usually called the Camposanto, is a historic cemetery on the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, adjacent to the Leaning Tower and the cathedral complex. Built in the 13th century, it was conceived as the burial place for the city’s elite and as a repository of sacred soil said to have been brought from Golgotha. The building forms a cloistered rectangular arcade that surrounds a central courtyard and houses ancient sarcophagi and a series of medieval frescoes created by artists of the era; much of the original artwork was damaged in the mid-20th century and subsequently restored.