WDEC 2026 at Florence's English Cemetery

A new interactive visitor experience, available year-round and continuing into next year—including the Week of Discovering European Cemeteries 2026.

Broadsheet maps

Visitors can now explore the English Cemetery in Florence, Italy, with specially designed broadsheet maps that guide them through its historic tombs. Each map features numbered images paired with corresponding stories on the reverse side. An approach visitors prefer over QR codes or online guides. The maps highlight some of the most notable figures buried in the Cemetery, such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Arthur Hugh Clough, Walter Savage Landor, Theodore Parker, and many others poets, reformers, and international intellectuals of the 19th century. Visitors can wander through sectors A to F, discovering stories of individuals with remarkable historical, artistic, and multicultural significance.

Treasure hunt maps and publications

In addition, the Cemetery team has created treasure hunt maps that connect the site to Dante’s Florence, Florence’s Saints, The Seven Acts of Mercy, George Eliot’s Romola and Florence, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Florence. For those seeking deeper insight, the Cemetery’s publications—Florence’s English Cemetery, 1827–1877: Thunders of White Silence; Dante and His Circle: Education, Script and Image; and O Bella Libertà by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, among others—offer in-depth explorations of its people, art, and history.

Virtual guide

You can learn more through the Italian or English virtual guide, available for download on the cemetery’s website.

Book: “Florence's English Cemetery, 1827-1877: Thunders of White Silence”

An overview of all the tombs at the English Cemetery in Florence and insight into its restoration.

About the book

We are pleased to announce the publication of a comprehensive new work, Florence's English Cemetery, 1827-1877: Thunders of White Silence, by Julia Bolton Holloway, the custodian of the English Cemetery in Florence for over two decades.

This 927-page volume, with a 53-page index, meticulously catalogs all existing and lost tombs of the English Cemetery in Florence (which is part of the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe), drawing from extensive archival records. The final chapter details the restoration of the cemetery and its beautiful iris garden—Florence's lily—a project carried out by Romanian Roma in Florence, who were taught literacy skills and the art of incising inscriptions on marble.

Book purchase

The book is available through Cambridge University Press, with a 25% discount for registered users. All royalties from the book will support the ongoing preservation of the cemetery.

"The whisper of the (paper) models" event and a literary contest

Attend a special event at the Cemetery agli Allori in Florence, Italy, on June 10, 2024, and participate in an engaging literary contest.

About the event

On June 10, 2024, at 9 PM, a special event titled "The Whisper of the (Paper) Models" will take place at the Cemetery agli Allori in Florence, Italy, as a tribute to Giovanni Battista Giorgini and to celebrate the essence of “Made in Italy”. The event will feature a contemporary dance performance, a flute performance, a recital, an exhibition, a poetry reading, and more.

You can find the entire program HERE.

Literary contest

Additionally, don't miss the literary contest “Incipitojo {ad uso di starvi a fantasiar}”. Based on the outdoor exhibition of imaginary book covers, taking place at the Cemetery agli Allori and the English Cemetery in Florence, we invite you to craft literary works inspired by these covers.

Submissions should be no more than 5.400 characters, including spaces, and must be sent by July 14, 2024, to www.incipitojo.it/concorso. Participation is free, and the awards ceremony will take place on October 24, 2024, at the Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux.

Celebrating the Golden Ring

On Monday, 4 April 2022, the English Cemetery and the House of Guidi will celebrate the Golden Ring that Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry created between Italy and England with a special event.

Event Program

1. The English Cemetery (located at the Piazzale Donatello) will be open in the morning from 9:00 to 12:00. 
2. The House of Guidi (located at Piazza San Felice, 8) will be open in the afternoon from 15:00 to 18:00.
3. In the evening at 20:00, at the English Cemetery, the film "A Tea with Mussolini" by Franco Zeffirelli will be screened (in case of rain the evening event will not take place).

You can find the original invitation HERE.

For all questions and additional information please contact the event organizer.

Upcoming events at the English Cemetery in Florence

Check out the dates of some interesting events that will take place at the English Cemetery in Florence, Italy.

September 24, 2020 at 17.30

Celebrating the bicentenary of the Vieusseux cabinet foundation  at the Tomb of Giovan Pietro Vieusseux

September 25, 2020 at 19.30

Projection of the film “Babette’s Feast” from Isak Dinesen at the cemetery.

 

October 1, 2020 at 18.00

“Lectura Dantis” - Paradise, Song XXXII-XXXIII, with dinner at the Trattoria 'Il Pennello', at the true “House of Dante” (via Dante Alighieri, Florence). Reservations at: juliananchoress@gmail.com

WDEC in Florence (English Cemetery), Italy

#EuropeForCulture On June 18 at 6:00 p.m. we shall hold a guided tour of the tombs in Florence's English Cemetery associated with the Battles of Waterloo, Trafalgar and the Peninsula against Napoleon, for which see. You can read more about it on this link. 

Poetry event at the English Cemetery in Florence

This is the first time the poem Casa Guidi Windows, written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in support of the Risorgimento, has been completely translated into Italian.

About the event

On Tuesday, 12 September 2017, at 7:30 p.m., the Comune of Florence will honor Elizabeth Barrett Browning at her tomb with a laurel crown in recognition of her work, which has created a golden bond between Italy and England.

Julia Bolton Holloway and Rosalynd Pio will read passages from the poem Casa Guidi Windows in English and Italian, accompanied by slides that illustrate it. Light refreshments will be served.

Virtual guide to Florence's English cemetery

The English cemetery in Florence, Italy is introducing its virtual guide of the cemetery.    

English Cemetery (Linares, Spain)

English Cemetery, also known as the Protestant cemetery, covers an area of only 1.497m2, but contains as many as 65 graves of historical character.

"I can give an example of tolerance. I hardly expected in this part of Spain to find a Protestant cemetery near the General Cemetery of the place". Diary of Thomas Sopwith, 1864.

With this statement, Thomas Sopwith, first vice-consul of Linares, referred to the English cemetery of the town. To understand the reason for its construction, we have to start from two historical facts:

• Influx of immigrants from Northern Europe, especially Britain. The liberalization of mining and other sectors such as railways since 1849 is conducive to the immigration of entrepreneurs and experts. They came to try their luck in the extractive sector; investing heavily and applying technology. This was followed, of course, in the demographic growth of a population and consequently increase of funeral needs.

• Religious intolerance. The Elizabethan purely religious law did not allow individuals from other branches, that was not Catholicism, to spend the same funeral privileges as the Catholic population. In practice that meant, that they could not be buried at the "municipal" city cemetery of Saint Joseph but were usually buried in the "corralillo".

The "corralillo"

The “corralillo” was a separate space and it has an individual entrance inside the cemetery of Saint Joseph. There were buried in deplorable conditions undesirable’s people for the regime: besides to local Protestants, suicidal and people execute by firearm.

Establishment of the cemetery

Given the above mentioned situation, family and colleague of a young British man, Remfry Santiago, who died in 1855, decided to locate its grave close to the south wall of the cemetery built in this same year.

Later, it was proceeded to surround the space that bounded this burial to avoid possible damage and desecration. Finally, Tonkin and Kendall (influential personalities linked to Linares Mining Company, created by UK agency Taylor & Taylor, a pioneer in the development of the mines of Linares) managed the necessary steps to take control of the land and, thus, define the limits within which will be the English Cemetery, since the mid-sixties of the nineteenth century to nowadays.

Cosmopolitanism of the English cemetery

The tolerance is felt in the legal corpus of the Revolutionary “Sexenio” beside the consolidation of economic liberalism advocated by the Bourbon Restoration. In result, foreign immigration didn't stop until the first third of the twentieth century. This leads to a range of consequences.

• From the ideological point of view: The Masonic Lodges and gatherings become spaces where local and British debate on various topics, including politics.

• Respect to the economy: Many British immigrants of both sexes figure were put on the lists of taxpayers, allowing them the privilege of voting in order to maintain their status quo.

• Special interest in education, culture and religious proselytizing: Children of miners received free classes by protestant immigrants. This meant that both, parents and their children, embraced the faith of their employers.

The English Cemetery reflects a cosmopolitanism that characterizes the city of Linares, and this will be cut off as we move into the Spanish civil war and the consequent establishment of the Franco regime in Spain.

Spanish civil war

Both events, Spanish civil war and the establishment of the Franco regime, along with the decline of mining since the thirties of the twentieth century, contributed ti the decline in foreign immigration.

Furthermore, falangist and local ultra-catholic of the regime of Franco wanted to destroy the last vestiges of Protestants in Linares, as well as any persona non grata for Franco, making them victims of persecution and harassment of all types.

Friendship between Franco and Churchill

The friendship between Franco and Churchill, resulted in the following consequences:

• On one hand, the British Prime Minister tertiary to the international community in exchange for the dictator.

• On the other hand, and at the local level, the "openness" by the City Hall would result in not destroying the cemetery, but also ensure its preservation.

The desire of bind together the the local Protestant community to those who brought a new way of seeing Christianity, caused that local Protestants sponsored the legislation and resorted to the last descendant of Hasselden, Enrique Montes Hasselden, so that he could transferred them ownership. Thus, since 1968, they could make use of the space that once was primarily built by the British for their eternal rest.

Reflection of the past

The tombstones in this cemetery show something more than a chronological succession of burials. We can unravel the British idiosyncrasies along 102 years (1855-1957):

• Cultural and religious influence of the British community on the rest of the foreign population, as we also find German, French and Swiss.

• Bilingual tombstones, in English and Spanish. This reflects a clear intention of bearing witness to their faith and their pass through Linares to the greatest number of people.

• Obelisks and St. Andrew's crosses reflect the importance of Freemasonry in Linares.

• Botanical architectural elements (palms) and architecture of oriental inspiration. Those were indicators of colonialism practiced by the British Empire during the Second Industrial Revolution.

At the present time, it is a space owned by the Assemblies of Brethren of Linares, only and exclusively. Like formerly, the use of English cemetery it’s related to the field of private property.

Important graves and monuments

• Bilingual tomb with a shaped Celtic cross (1904): It was raised by the mine engineer Reginal Boham Carter (Don Regino). It is speculated that it could be the ancestor of the American actress (but of British descent), Helena Bonham Carter.
• Masonic Graves at the English Cemetery (Late nineteenth century): Tomb with obelisk-shaped that belongs to two British-Masonic men.
• Entrance of the English Cemetery (1860-1864): Door with slope-shaped, similar to the Egyptians and Oriental temples of antiquity. Something that was logical in the British colonialism.

Cemetery Contacts

English Cemetery
Brethren. Evangelical Community.
C/ Cambroneras, 27 - 23700 Linares (Jaén)

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José María de Rus (administrator)
Phone: (+34) 697 95 05 60
Email: josemariaderus@gmail.com

Miguel Palomares (administrator)
Phone: (+34) 639 90 94 57
Email: josemiguelpalomares@yahoo.es

City Hall of Linares Contacts

Yaiza López Sánchez (Responsible of Tourism Area of the City Hall)

El Pósito de Linares.
Museo Raphael y Centro de Interpretación de la Ciudad.
Iglesia, 5 - 23700 Linares (Jaén)

Phone: +34 953 10 01 83 or +34 607 25 75 52
Email: turismo@aytolinares.es or ylopez@aytolinares.es

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Juan Parrilla Sánchez (Technical of Heritage Area of the City Hall)

Centro de Interpretación del Paisaje Minero. Antiguo Muelle de Carga de la Estación de Madrid.
Paseo de Linarejos, s/n. 23700 Linares (Jaén)

Phone: +34 953 60 78 12 or 607 28 83 34
Email: turismo@aytolinares.es or jparrilla@aytolinares.es

The English Cemetery (Malaga, Spain)

The oldest Protestant cemetery on mainland Spain.

The English Cemetery in Malaga was established in January 1831 at the behest of the then British Consul, William Mark, who successfully appealed to the Governor for a piece of land on which to provide British subjects of the protestant faith with a decent burial.

Important people buried in the cemetery

The first recorded burial was that of George Stephens (Captain of the brig “Cicero”, who drowned in Malaga harbour) which took place on 22 January 1831. This was followed by that of Robert Boyd, executed by firing squad with the Liberal leader, General Jose Maria Torijos, and his followers on 11 December of that year. Subsequent burials of interest include:

• Dr Joseph Noble, Member of Parliament and physician, who died in 1861 the victim of cholera, and in whose memory his family built the Hospital Noble which until recent times served the people of Malaga;

• William Nutter, British landscape painter, died 1871;

• 42 officers and men of the Imperial German Navy sail training ship “Gniesenau”, which foundered outside Malaga Harbour in December 1900;

• George Langworthy, owner of the first hotel to be established in Torremolinos, and which would subsequently lead to the Costa del Sol becoming a popular tourist resort, died 1945;

• 4 Commonwealth War Graves of the Second World War;

• The Finish author and journalist Aarne Viktor Haapakoski, aka “Outsider” and “Henrik Horna”, died 1961;

• The English author and Hispanist, Gerald Brenan (died 1987) and his poetess wife, Gamel Woolsey, an American citizen (died 1968);

• The Spanish poet Jorge Guillen, 1984.

A place of historic and cultural importance

In 2006 agreement was reached with the British government for the ownership of the cemetery to be transferred to The English Cemetery in Malaga Foundation, a Spanish registered charity, whose aims are the maintenance and promotion of the cemetery as a place of historic and cultural interest.

In November 2012, the Andalucian Regional Parliament agreed to the inclusion of the cemetery on the Regional Heritage Register as a monument of historical and cultural interest.

Address

English Cemetery in Malaga Foundation
Avenida de Pries, 1
29016 Málaga
Spain

Contact and website

Phone: +34 952 223 552

www.cementerioinglesmalaga.org

English Cemetery (Florence, Italy)

This Protestant cemetery located at Piazzale Donatello was founded in 1827 by the Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church.

The Victorian (1827-1877), so-called ‘English’ Cemetery for non Catholics (Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and other confessions), owned by the Swiss Reformed Church, is now surrounded by traffic. It is located on a hill with cypress trees, that may be an Etruscan tomb, famously presented in Arnold Boecklin’s ‘Island of the Dead.

Its tombs are sculpted by some of the greatest sculptors of the nineteenth century. It is the burial place of the poets and writers, sculptors and artists, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Walter Savage Landor, Arthur Hugh Clough, Frances Trollope, Hiram Powers, Joel Hart, many friends of Florence Nightingale, and many participants in the Battle of Waterloo. Burials now can be of cinerary urns and bones, no longer entire bodies.

Address

English Cemetery
Piazzale Donatello 38
50132 Firenze, Italy

Contacts

Tel.: 39 055582608
Tel/Fax: 39 055582608
E-mail: holloway.julia@tiscali.it
http://www.florin.ms/cemetery.html

Tourist information

http://www.firenzeturismo.it/
http://www.firenzeturismo.it/en_EN/