Alfredo Salafia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfredo Salafia (born November 7, 1869 in Palermo , Italy ; † January 31, 1933 there ) was an Italian specialist in embalming .

The embalmed Rosalia Lombardo

Salafia was already a celebrity in her lifetime. He had u. a. the body of Italy's Prime Minister Francesco Crispi (1902) and Archbishop of Palermo Michelangelo Cardinal Celesia (1904) preserved. These bodies are so well preserved that contemporary witnesses reported during exhumations that the people looked as if they had just dozed off. The body of Crispis († 1901) had initially been treated by taxidermists from Naples, but their methods proved to be inadequate. A year later, Salafia was commissioned to save the body, which he succeeded in several months of work. He was also able to restore Crispi's facial features through paraffin injections . The body of Celesia († 1904) preserved by Salafia was also considered a sensation. He was seen in the Capuchin Crypt in Palermo for five years before he was transferred to the cathedral there .

Salafia became particularly well-known for the embalming of Rosalia Lombardo in 1920. In a report from 2009 about her mummy it says: “Every little hair on her peach-colored skin is preserved. The face is so tender and peaceful, as if she had just fallen asleep. Rosalia is considered to be the most beautiful mummy in the world. ”In March 2009, researchers discovered the method of his embalming. In an estate paper found with Anna Phillipone, the great niece of Salafia's second wife, entitled “Nuovo metodo speciale per la conservazione del cadavere umano interno allo stato permanentemente fresco”, Salafia had written that part glycerin and part formalin were enriched with zinc sulfate and chlorides , for which a third part of alcohol solution with salicylic acid is the right mixture.

Salafia died of a stroke and is buried in the Santa Maria di Gesù cemetery in Palermo. The mummies of Salafia are exhibited in the Capuchin Crypt in Palermo.

literature

  • Dario Piombino-Mascali : Il maestro del sonno eterno (= Le pietre 24 ). La Zisa, Palermo 2009, ISBN 978-88-95709-52-9 , (Italian).
  • Dario Piombino-Mascali, Melissa Johnson Williams : Alfredo Salafia: Master Embalmer. In: American Funeral Director. No. 105, February 2009, Kates-Boylston publications, New York NY 2009, pp. 52-55.
  • Dario Piombino-Mascali, Arthur C. Aufderheide, Melissa Johnson-Williams, Albert R. Zink: The Salafia method rediscovered. In: Virchow's archive. Vol. 454, No. 3, March 2009, pp. 355-357.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Koudounaris, The Immaculate Corpses of Dr Alfredo Salafia at the Palermo Catacombs (Palermo, Sicily, Italy) . Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ Researchers solve the riddle of a flawless mummy Article in: Spiegel Online , May 11, 2009
  3. ↑ Book - New publication: EURAC researcher reveals techniques of the famous Sicilian embalming ( Memento of December 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) On: eurac.edu , accessed on March 13, 2012
  4. ↑ Dario Piombino-Mascali, Arthur C. Aufderheide, Melissa Johnson-Williams, Albert R. Zink: The Salafia method rediscovered . In: Virchow's archive . Vol. 454, No. 3, March 2009, pp. 355-7. doi : 10.1007 / s00428-009-0738-6 . PMID 19205728 .
personal data
SURNAME Salafia, Alfredo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian specialist in embalming
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Palermo , Italy
DATE OF DEATH January 31, 1933
Place of death Palermo , Italy