Cimitero di Sant'Anna - Tomba di Eleonora Duse

The cemetery of Sant'Anna lies on the hill above Asolo, beside the former Capuchin convent. It is the burial place of actor Eleonora Duse and writer and traveller Freya Stark, among other figures connected with the town's cultural history.

Why it matters

Duse made Asolo her final home and was buried at Sant'Anna in 1924, after dying in Pittsburgh during an American tour. Her return to Italy and burial here became part of the town's theatrical memory. Stark, who settled in Asolo after the Second World War, was buried at the cemetery in 1993.

What to notice

The cemetery occupies the former belvedere of the convent. Its setting above the town gives the burial ground a close relationship with the surrounding landscape and with the history of the religious complex. The names of Duse, Stark, museum benefactor Pacifico Scomazzetto, scholar Manara Valgimigli and musicologist Vittor Luigi Paladini mark the cemetery's place in Asolo's cultural memory.

Context and history

The Capuchin complex was established after 1586, and its church was consecrated in 1592. The convent was suppressed in 1769 and passed to the Comune in 1775. The former belvedere became a cemetery during the Napoleonic reforms; the Capuchins returned in 1928 and have served as its custodians. Duse's centenary was commemorated in Asolo in 2024.