The crypts of the Capuchin convent, built in 1621, house the world-famous “Catacombe dei Cappuccini”. The place, indeed offering quite macabre sight, displays the mummified or embalmed corpses of wealthy Palermitans (including woman and children) and clergymen, buried there until 1881, when the custom was abolished. In the adjoining graveyard is the tomb of G. Tomasi di Lampedusa, author of the famous novel “The Leopard”.