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GC119.JPG

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It appears as if the designer of the uniquely funerary Pizzati mausoleum, ordered one of everything from a mausoleum supplies catalog. Blind windows, an angel, a draped urn, an alpha/omega emblem, Medieval turrets, garlands, stars and a cross all envelop the remains of Salvatore Pizzati, who is spending eternity inside his mausoleum with his favorite rocking chair. Pizzati Mausoleum Metairie Cemetery New Orleans, Louisiana The mausoleum of Captain Salvatore Pizzati was manufactured by Charles Orleans from a design of Orleans’ architect Charles Brune. There is a strong tradition of above ground burial in New Orleans and understandably, there are a number of mausoleum builders who offered their services to New Orleanians. During the Golden Age of the mausoleum (post Civil War to the Great Depression) there was lively competition among mausoleum builders to try to “build the best” and try to out do one another. It would appear that the Pizzati mausoleum is a result of that competition and consequently, is one of the most ornate and eclectic mausoleums in the country. Among its ornaments the Pizzati monument is embellished with Medieval turrets, Byzantine Columns, curved dentils, a statue of “Memory”, elegantly carved garlands in the frieze area, a blind window, a draped urn and what appears to be a modified Masonic sign. Captain Salvatore Pizzati was an Italian immigrant who made his fortune as an importer of tropical fruit. Perhaps Salvatore’s mausoleum was just the reflection of a whimsical and somewhat eccentric man: the story goes that before he died, Pizzati requested that he be buried with his favorite rocking chair and apparently the chair was placed in the chamber below his crypt.