Everything to Know About Rosalia Lombardo: The Blinking Mummy

This isn’t your everyday sleeping beauty story. Have you ever heard of a mummy that can open its eyes? Or how about a mummy that has been so perfectly preserved it seems alive?

These are the mysteries surrounding Rosalia Lombardo, the blinking mummy.

Stick with us as we break down everything you need to know about little Rosalia Lombardo.

Rosalia’s Birth and Death

Rosalia Lombardo, daughter of Maria Cara Lombardo and General Mario Lombardo, was born on the 13th of December 1918.

Sadly, Rosalia was born a weak, frail, and sickly child. This poor young girl had a short life, which she spent mostly in a state of illness.

When she was two years old, on the 6th of December 1920, she passed away from a case of pneumonia. Her premature death was a week before her birthday, leaving her family in a grief-stricken state.

Photo credit: Wikimedia

The Unique Embalming of Rosalia Lombardo

After Rosalia’s death, her grieved father wanted to preserve her beauty. So, General Mario sought the help of a skillful Sicilian embalmer and taxidermist named Alfredo Salafia.

Alfredo performed the embalming, after which Rosalia’s body was one of the last to be committed into the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo in Sicily. She is angel-like in appearance and easily recognizable, with blonde hair, blonde eyelashes, and a signature silk bow tied neatly on her head.

Alfredo used a specific formula for the embalming procedure. One part glycerin, one part formalin saturated with zinc sulfate and chloride, and one part of an alcoholic solution saturated with salicylic acid.

Zinc sulfate is the magic compound that gave rigidity to the girl’s body. It also gave her a doll-like, glossy, wax appearance.

The Salicylic acid, which is found in common medicines to treat headaches, killed any fungus or bacteria in her body.

The preservation and embalming formula Alfredo used is very impressive. Her body is perfectly intact. If you were to remove her remains from the coffin, her body would be rigid and could stand upright.

Over time, this embalming has become famed, with Rosalia’s becoming one of the best preserved mummies to be documented.

This story isn’t without its skeptics, though - some claimed that a wax figure replaced Rosalia’s real body. It went as far as becoming a topic of investigation with its own National Geographic documentary.

In the investigation, researchers took x-rays of the body for the first and only time.

They discovered that the body was real. The skeletal structure of the body, and even Rosalia’s internal organs, were still intact. Her brain was still visible, although slightly shrunken due to the embalming process.

Discovery of The Blinking Mummy

After the 2009 investigation, when Rosalia’s mummy was moved, it began to show signs of discoloration and decomposition.

To combat this, the coffin was moved to a drier location within the catacombs. Rosalia’s original coffin was placed inside a special, hermetically sealed glass coffin (pictured below). This coffin contains nitrogen gas to preserve Rosalia and prevent the child mummy from decomposing further.

Photo credit: Wikimedia

During this moving process, people discovered that her eyes were never completely closed. Looking from the right angle, one can actually see her eyes.

This startling discovery has inspired artists to capture the little girl in artworks. Some works are touching, showing her lying in her coffin in a preserved manner, while others show her alive and well in a more healthy form.

A Beloved Mystery

Although there are many mummies in the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, something is fascinating about the mummified body of Rosalia. While the preservation is incredible, there’s more to the story! The mystery of Rosalia is that she ‘blinks,’ and many have seen it.

Rosalia is known as Sleeping Beauty or the Sleeping Angel because she looks so peaceful that she may be asleep.

However, there are timelapse videos of her body where her eyes seem to open slightly showing her intact blue irises.

This has led many to falsely speculate that the little girl is still conscious and aware of what is happening around her or that she is still alive.

Initially, there was a theory that the moisture levels in the air caused Rosalia’s eyes to open and close. On wetter days, they would open, and on drier days, they would shrink and close.

The cause of this phenomenon couldn’t be truly pinned down until the curator of the catacombs stepped in. They proved that the ‘blinking’ was simply an optical illusion. The illusion is produced by light that filters through the side windows of the catacombs.

The glints within Rosalia’s blue eyes create the appearance that her eyes are open and staring back at the viewer.

Photo credit: Wikimedia

However, the speculation of her eyes being slightly open wasn’t wrong either! The curator confirmed that Rosalia’s eyes aren’t completely closed.

Many believe that her opening eyes symbolize the life that exists within her tiny body. It is seen as her defying death.

Conclusion

The story of Rosalia Lombardo is sad yet fascinating. People from all over the world have followed her story. Her amazingly preserved body will forever be seen as a phenomenon by those who view her.

Some believe she still has life within her, while others believe an optical illusion creates the appearance of her looking back at you. Which do you believe?

Read more amazing stories about more amazing humans right here at Phreeque.com.