Federico Mentil Designs Three Columbaria in Carnic Alps Cemeteries

Architect Federico Mentil has completed a trilogy of columbaria in three Alpine villages within the municipality of Paluzza, Italy, near the Austrian border. The projects integrate cremation niches into existing historic cemeteries at Timau-Cleulis, Paluzza, and Rivo in the But Valley of the Carnic Alps. At Timau-Cleulis, a larch timber structure wraps the ossuary within a vestibule, framing views of Pizzo dei Camosci and Pizzo Timau. In Paluzza, two parallel walls follow a slope to create a linear composition of Carrara marble niches with native vegetation. At Rivo, interventions inside and outside the cemetery walls include a redesigned ossuary and a new reinforced concrete structure with a bush-hammered finish and a roofless opening to the sky. All three projects use Carrara marble, stone, timber, steel, and concrete, emphasizing landscape integration and material weathering. The client is the Municipality of Paluzza, and photographs are by Alessandra Bello.