NO WEB FOR FRANCE - In the crypt of the Capuchin Church of Burgio, a magnificent village situated 100 kilometres south of Palermo,Sicily, Italy on January 2019 the dead are perfectly staged. In all, there are around 50 mummies, most in the upright position, all elegantly dressed. The women wear splendid lace dresses, a little faded, and the men their best hat. Almost all of these mummies date to the 18th and 19th centuries. The most recent were added at the beginning of the 20th century. In the shadows, illuminated with a small bright torch, Luisa Maria Lo Gerfo examines the skull of an elegant bourgeois deceased 150 years ago. Anthropologist, biologist, archaeologist and Sicilian mummy specialist, she regularly works on mummies whether they are in an upright position or elongated in richly decorated open coffins. She measures limbs, diagnoses diseases according to abnormalities and scars, inspects dresses, mantillas, costumes, top hats and scarves. "Not everyone could afford to be mummified", she explains. "The more one was part of high society, the closer one was to the altar, the heart of the church. The poorest were buried outside the church." Sicily will reveal over time a real research laboratory on mummification. It is spreading throughout the island and there is not an important village in sight that does not display the bodies of their priests, monks or citizens in the crypt of their church. Photo by Eric Vandeville/ABACAPRESS.COM