The management of Death

Covid-19 victims in Italy are getting close to 100.000. In the last 12 months we have heard daily of Covid-19 death toll and in this project I investigated on the industry and the work flow behind the management of death.

During the first year of the Covid-19 epidemic, we heard about the very difficult experiences of doctors and nurses. We saw the empty cities and considered the difficulties of industries, education, tourism and the arts. But little we knew about the management of death.
In my project I investigated on the whole process, from cutting the trees in reforestation areas to the full process at the crematorium. I went to Parco nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi in Tuscany, where the raw material is provided. Then I followed it to a lumber company in Imola, where the wood is processed. Then Perugia, where there is a a company that builds coffins. The coffins went to Florence and there I investigated how funeral parlor employees work during the covid-19 emergency: how they manage Covid-19 bodies and how they manage funerals during the Covid emergency. The last focus was on the crematorium in Ferrara. That’s where the military trucks took the coffins from Bergamo, in March 2020, when Europe and the USA looked concerned at the Italian situation before it spread worldwide.