It's raining on the graves and in the corridors of the new, recently completed section of the municipal cemetery on Via Marconi in Quartu. Due to the pressing need for space to bury the deceased, the burial niches were delivered immediately, but the work isn't finished: another level needs to be built, and only then can the sheathing be installed.
Floods and inconveniences
While they wait, the entire area is flooded, gravestones are being damaged by the constant falling water, and worrying cracks are forming in the ceilings. So much so that during these days of incessant rain, relatives of the deceased buried in this area have not even been able to visit their loved ones due to the flooding.
Right here, where everything floods, are also the burial niches of Giacomo Desogus and Matthias Steri, the two boys who died in a tragic accident last December while hunting.
Anger
"We're deeply saddened by what's happening," says Giacomo's father, Roberto Desogus. "The slab is suffering serious damage from the water dripping from the ceiling. We've also alerted the municipality, and they've told us they need to apply the membrane, but when? In the meantime, the damage will be even more extensive, and we'll be forced to replace the burial niche. This is a situation that can no longer be tolerated."
Vincenzo Perra's mother is also in this area of the most recent deaths. She recounts: "My mother passed away in April of this year, and the pain is still excruciating. We were assigned this burial niche, but we never thought we'd find ourselves in this situation." Right above the niche, in fact, "there's a crack in the ceiling, where water is leaking in and flooding everything. Not only that, but there's a lake on the ground, and unless you bring rubber boots, you can't get through." These days, "we're avoiding going because it breaks our hearts to see what's happening. We'd already noticed that something was wrong with that ceiling in April, when the burial took place, and we thought, 'Who knows what will happen when it rains,' and unfortunately we weren't wrong."
Buried next to Giacomo Desogus is Tonino Mallus's wife, who is uneasy: "My wife's burial niche is completely ruined, it's raining on it," she said. "And then we also have to worry about plaster and cement falling on our heads, which will peel off from soaking wet."
The replica
Cemetery officials confirm that "until the second floor is completed, the liners cannot be installed. We understand the inconvenience, we know it's raining, but the delivery of the niches was urgent because there was no other space to bury the deceased, and this was the priority." Construction of the second burial floor is already planned and should begin shortly. Relatives of the recently deceased hope it will be completed soon, while in other areas of the cemetery, the liners were already replaced last year.