WDEC 2026 at Italian Cemeteries

Explore SEFIT Utilitalia events and guided tours at Italian cemeteries during Week of Discovering European Cemeteries 2026.

19 May 2026 | Press Release from the Utilitalia SEFIT Enhancement Working Group

The Utilitalia SEFIT Cemeteries Historical, Artistic, and Touristic Enhancement Working Group is participating at the end of May in an interesting annual project by ASCE: the Week of Discovering European Cemeteries (WDEC). This is a period, sometimes lasting just over a week, to highlight our cemeteries. The theme of this year's event relates to Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda: Quality Education.

Cemeteries are, in fact, places where it is possible to study history, learn about art, and generally delve into issues relating to local culture and society—valuable subjects for building a more sustainable future through knowledge.

With the participation of several member cities of the WG Valorizzazione (Promotion Working Group) in the WDEC project, we are fulfilling the commitments made in 2017 through the Memorandum of Understanding signed between SEFIT and ASCE for the mutual promotion of cultural activities.

The Verano in Rome, the Monumental Cemetery in Turin, the Certosa of Bologna, the Staglieno in Genoa, the Monumental Cemetery in Milan, the Certosa di Ferrara, the Monumental Cemetery in Trento, and the Monumental Cemetery in Verona are among the historic and significant Italian cemeteries that are members of the Utilitalia SEFIT WG and are participating in WDEC 2026 with various cultural activities, events, and themed guided tours. These activities are listed in the booklet, which can be viewed and downloaded from the following link:

• https://heyzine.com/flip-book/2479ba316f.html

1945-2025 Monuments and tombs tell the story of the Liberation

A digital itinerary featuring some of the notable Italian monuments and tombs that tell the story of the Liberation from Nazi-fascism.

This year, April 25th carries special significance. Not only because it's the 80th anniversary of Italy's Liberation from Nazi-fascism, but also because it's a symbolic date marking the end of the Second World War. Today, several armed conflicts are still ongoing, even not too far from our country, which oblige us to reflect on the Resistance, its protagonists, and the enduring meaning of the Liberation.

The 2025 project of the Working Group for the Historical-Artistic and Touristic Valorization of Italian Public Cemeteries of Utilitalia SEFIT, aims to highlight some of the monuments and tombs that tell the story of the Liberation inside and outside cemetery walls. This initiative is presented through a digital Google Maps itinerary titled "1945–2025: Monuments and Tombs Tell the Story of the Liberation", accessible HERE.

*Photo: Verano cemetery - Sepolcreto dei caduti nella lotta per la Liberazione, © Daniele.Brundu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

November 2, 2024 “Cemeteries tell their stories”

Activities to enhance the value of Italian cemeteries on the occasion of the Commemoration of the deceased.

On the occasion of the Commemoration of the deceased, the Italian cemeteries that are members of the Technical Table for Cultural and Tourist Enhancement of SEFIT Utilitalia have once again highlighted the important educational function their cemeteries play in preserving history, values, art, and the legacy of key figures from a particular era in our society.

Sometimes, they are defined as open-air museums due to the architecture and art forms they contain, such as busts, statues, epigraphs honoring heroes of the past, and more frequently than in today's cities, also celebrating ladies, women, and heroines who, through their courage, kindness, or philanthropy, show us the value of looking forward by reading the signs of the past, preserved for us in cemeteries.

For this special occasion, an interactive poster entitled “Cemeteries tell their stories” is published on the website www.Sefit.org, consisting of a series of buttons that launch visual content with the intention of presenting the following cemeteries: Monumental of Trento, Verano of Rome, Staglieno of Genoa, Monumental of Milan, Certosa of Bologna, Monumental of Turin, Certosa of Ferrara, Monumental of Andria and Mantua.

Here is the link to the interactive poster.

WDEC 2022 in Italian cemeteries

Program of events and guided tours in Italian significant cemeteries - members of Utilitalia-SEFIT, on the occasion of the Week to Discovering European Cemeteries 2022.

About the Utilitalia-SEFIT

The public companies that manage the main Italian monumental cemeteries are associated in Utilitalia-SEFIT, which has established in 2015 a Technical Table for the historical, artistic and tourist enhancement of its cemeteries by organizing promotional activities and signing memoranda of understanding first with the Tourism Directorate of the current MIC, then also with the ASCE Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe (ASCE) - custodian of the Cultural Route of the Council of Europe: European Cemeteries Route (CEMR). 

Members of Utilitalia-SEFIT

The Staglieno of Genoa, the Monumental of Treviso, the Certosa of Bologna, the Verano of Rome, the Monumental of Milan, the Certosa of Ferrara, the Monumental of Turin, the Monumental of Mantua, the Cemetery of the Villetta of Parma, the Monumental of Verona, the Bolzano Cemetery, the San Cataldo di Modena, the Monumentale di Treviso and the Monumentale di Trento are among the historical and significant Italian cemeteries members of the Technical Board of Valorisation of Utilitalia-SEFIT.

WDEC 2022 Program and other activities of Utilitalia-SEFIT

This year, the members of the Utilitalia-SEFIT TTL had the opportunity to join a project of historical reenactment "Giovine Italia, Giovine Europa. Ideas, struggles, emancipation" promoted to "8Cento APS" and the Civic Museum of the Risorgimento, foreseen in the review "Discovering the Italian patriot". 

Furthermore, every year the group of Italian cemeteries adheres to the cultural initiative of ASCE with a series of initiative within the Week of Discovering European Cemeteries. 

THIS BOOKLET is full of appointments, cultural initiatives, and guided tours that will take place during this year's Week of Discovering European Cemeteries.

The first three dates scheduled for the period are:

• May 26 - Certosa di Bologna,
• May 27 - Mantua Cemetery,
• 2 June - Verano Cemetery in Rome.

Monumental cemetery of Mantua VIDEO CLIP