Brescia is one of the provinces with the highest density of immigrants. If the migration routes are now well known, little or nothing is known about their last journey. That is, the practice of burial. Where do the bodies of foreign citizens who die in Brescia rest? A question which, in the age of conspiracies, is answered with urban legends. Actually, regarding the Muslim community Brescia, most of the deceased are found in the Islamic camp inside the monumental cemetery of Vantiniano.
“At the moment – says Luca Sarzina, head of the cemetery sector for Sanitaria Servizi Ambientali – there are around a hundred people of the Muslim faith buried in the field and the current capacity of the designated area is around 60%”. It is worth remembering that the deceased of the Islamic religion are buried exclusively in the ground and exposed towards Mecca. Therefore, the majority of Islamic citizens residing in Brescia rest in this camp, while a small minority requests the repatriation of the body. In this case there are funeral agencies, also in Brescia, that take care of this service.
In such a context, among other things, in the near future a project will be built in the Vantini area Common Islamic ossuary and the objective is to have a direct line with the Islamic community for the management of the camp in the Monumental. In the Vantiniano, however, there are no Chinese people and the reason is “cultural”. «Almost everyone – explains Luca Sarzina – they are also cremated in Brescia and then family members take them home or to China.” The same goes for the populous Indian community. «Also managing cemeteries in the Lower Brescia area such as Gambara and Gottolengo – recalls the head of the cemetery sector for Sanitaria Servizi Ambientali – where there are many Indians, very few choose to be buried. Almost everyone is cremated.”
Speaking of minorities, the only problems – if they can be defined that way – are those with citizens of Roma ethnicity. «The habit of burying the deceased persists – he concludes – with money and gold even if, after the cases of Montirone and Calcinatello, no other episodes of robbed tombs have been recorded in the Brescia area».
