The Italian village of Tropea is facing a shortage of burial spaces in its municipal cemetery.
To temporarily address this issue until a new cemetery is constructed, the village is offering an incentive to those who choose cremation over burial, as reported by Corriere della Sera.
The Tropea town hall has allocated €20,000 for these incentives, with the deceased's relatives able to request the funds within 60 days of the cremation.
Applications must be accompanied by proof of the cremation. Only citizens of Tropea are eligible for this financial aid, which will be available throughout 2024 until the allocated funds are exhausted.
"We have created 100 spaces, but this number is small compared to what is needed," says Mayor Nino Macri.
"While we wait for the construction of a new cemetery, we thought this incentive might help solve the problem."
A few years ago, an Italian police investigation revealed what was happening in Tropea's cemetery. Due to the lack of burial spaces, residents had to bribe to bury their dead.
The cemetery administrator randomly released burial spaces to create vacancies. The exhumed bodies, not fully decomposed, were either incinerated or discarded as trash.
