The Church of the Dead, known as the Cappella Cola until 1836, is adorned with a beautiful gothic doorway. Inside lies the Cemetery of the Mummies famous for it’s strange phenomenon of natural mummification, caused by the particular mould present within which has absorbed moisture from the corpses leading to the complete dessication of the bodies. In 1833, following the foundation of out of town cemeteries by order of the 1804 Napoleonic edict of Saint Cloud, 18 mummified corpses from nearby tombs were displayed behind the church altar. The Brotherhood of Good Death, founded in Casteldurante in 1567, organised the layout of the corpses under the patronage of Saint Giovanni Decollato. (Inside the church there is a representation of this saint, an artwork by Giustino Episcopi). The saint’s tasks were to arrange free transport and burial of the dead (especially the poor), to assist the dying, to register the dead in a special book as well as to collect and distribute money for the poor. During a death ceremony, the “Brothers” wore a white sack with a cap (visible at the centre of the church in the figure of prior Vincenzo Piccini, inventor of the necropolis). The mummies of Urbania have a different story to tell to each new visitor. There w i t h i n lies a young lady who died whilst having a Caesarian, a boy knifed during a nocturnal dance, or even, so they say, an unluky man that was buried alive but thought dead. But let the guardian reveal the secrets hidden behind each mummified character.