New entrance to Alleghe cemetery

Massimiliano Dell’Olivo

Photo by Stefano Dell’Antone

This project has renewed the entire area leading up to the cemetery gates in order to respond to the need for improved access within a single structure, and it has strong symbolic meaning too.
The entrance to the sacred enclosure is nothing but a threshold, understood not as a separation but as a union, as a moment of transition between the rhythms of everyday life and a place where time is endless.
The concept underlying the construction is to configure the new steps and disabled ramp as to appear to have been sculpted from a single block of dolomite stone.
Like the stylobate of an ancient temple, this element rises up between us and the cemetery, articulating itself with 3 different facets.
On the left we find a dedicated disabled space with direct access to the ramp, in the center, the large monumental staircase, and on the right, the access pathway for the municipal groundskeepers’ equipment.
The project has also preserved the stone elements of the old staircase, recovering them and reusing them as edging for the access path.
Two symbols are engraved in the stone beside the disabled ramp: an anchor and a fish.
For Christians the anchor symbolizes hope and in particular in the promise of eternal life. The fish is the symbol of Jesus Christ, Son of God. Therefore, the meaning of the two symbols together is the promise of resurrection through faith in Christ.

Translation by Federica De Guio

Photo by Stefano Dell’Antone