The price of dying is going up in Rome, if a city auction of prime cemetery lots is anything to go by.
The most expensive burial ground in the city’s prized Verano cemetery is on offer for 312,629 euros — the price of a modest apartment — before tax.
Like living real estate, the plot is described as being of “classical style, in brick and slate-roofed, with decorative elements in (white) travertine rock and Cararre marble,” according to the write-up in brochures.
The tombs, one of which can hold up to 28 coffins, can be viewed via Google Earth with pictures placed on the Web site www.amaroma.it
Future inhabitants will become neighbors of such luminaries as actor Marcello Mastroianni, writer Alberto Moravia or other cinematic figures in Roberto Rossellini and Luchino Visconti.
Rome mayor Gianni Alamanno hopes to raise 2.5 million euros from the sell-off of tombs whose owners are no longer known, are empty or are threatened with collapse, and offers a 75-year lease.
The auction is due to end on July 24.(AFP)
羅馬市正在標售頂級墓園，若依拍賣標準來看，死後想安息將付出更高的代價。
這座位在羅馬市最重要的維拉諾公墓內的頂級墓園起標價三十一萬兩千六百二十九歐元，相當於一戶小公寓未稅前的價格。
就如同活人的房地產一般，拍賣型錄中形容這座墓園「屬經典風格，磚砌主體配上板岩材質屋頂，還飾有（白色）石灰岩和卡拉瑞大理石」。
其中一個墓區可容納多達二十八具棺木。透過「Google地球」可觀看張貼在www.amaroma.it網站上的各墓區照片。
未來的遷入者將可與影星馬塞羅•馬斯托依安尼、作家艾伯托•莫拉維亞，及電影界聞人羅伯特•羅塞里尼、盧契諾•維斯康提等名人為鄰。
羅馬市長賈尼•阿萊曼諾希望藉由低價出售這些無主、空置或瀕臨倒塌的墓穴，籌募兩百五十萬歐元；租賃期限為七十五年。
拍賣活動至七月二十四日截止。
（法新社�翻譯：林倩如）
RSS