The Cemetery of Camposanto is one of the most unique cemeteries I have ever visited. The long wall of white marble running along the northern side of the square is a perimeter wall of the Camposanto. Legend has it that towards the end of the twelfth century, the then archbishop returned from the Crusades with a cargo of soil from Golgotha, that the cemetery's more noted occupants may be buried in holy earth.

At one time over 2000 metres of the cloister walls were frescoed. It was these frescoes that led Ruskin to value the Camposanto as one of the three most treasured buildings in Italy. Sadly, it was these frescoes that were all but completely destroyed by allied incendiary bombs in 1944. Recently, there has been an attempt to restore all of the frescos by placing most of them in a separate room.