From Martha Bakerjian,
Your Guide to Italy Travel.
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The tiny town of Ferentillo in southern Umbria holds an interesting surprise below the Church of Santo Stefano. Bodies buried there were preserved by a rare microfungus that attacked the corpses and turned them into mummies. Some of the best preserved mummies are on display in what is now the mummy museum in the bottom part of the church.

The Church of Santo Stefano is a 15th century church built above what was originally a 12th century church. The lower church was used as a burial ground from about 1500 to 1871, when the mummies were discovered. Some of the bodies still have hair, beards, or teeth intact and a few even have clothes.

In the display cases are several of the more interesting people. There's a lawyer who was murdered and in another case, his murderer. A mother and her baby lie next to each other. Mummies include several elderly people, a couple of children, and priests. The most unusual people to be found in this area are Chinese pilgrims who died on the pilgrimage route.

Also on display are two birds that were mummified. They were used as an experiment by a doctor to find out more about the preservation process. A year after they were buried, they were dug up and had become preserved. There are partial frescoes from the original church still visible, too.

To visit the mummy museum, follow signs for the Mummie. The ticket office is in a street below the church entrance. There a guide will escort you into the lower church and tell you about the exhibits (in Italian). Current opening hours (2007) are:

• April - September, 9:00 to 12:30 and 2:30 to 7:30
• March and October, 9:30 to 12:30 and 2:30 to 6:00
• November - February, 10:00 to 12:30 and 2:30 to 5:00

Ferentillo is in the southern part of the Umbria region, 19 miles southwest of Spoleto and 11 miles northeast of Terni on the S209 road. Also nearby is the Cascata delle Marmore, Europe's highest waterfall, and there are many hiking trails in the area. Ferentillo itself is a scenic town by the Nera River with picturesque castle ruins above it.