The Italian Cemetery

The Italian Cemetery in Colma holds a central, sprawling mausoleum faced in white marble that glows against the green hillside. Italian immigrants founded this site in eighteen ninety-nine when they were pushed out of San Francisco’s expanding city limits. They brought their traditions with them, turning this hillside into a permanent piece of their homeland. A marble angel once stood over the grave of A. P. Giannini, the founder of the Bank of Italy, watching over the bankers and laborers buried in the same soil.