Ever since ancient times, the magical-propitiatory, apotropaic, and celebratory purpose of art could also apply to its funereal side. Under this aspect, art takes on countless dimensional levels, including the planning of funeral temples and graveyard sites, which introduce artistic elaboration into city planning. Being analyzed here for the first time are minor cemeteries selected for their importance in Italy’s pre- and post-Unification landscape. Cemetery art and architecture prove themselves to be vantage points that allow to understand not only the artist’s most profound intent, but also that of his client. This subject has long been studied by the scientific community, as shown by the rich biblio- and webography which sparked the present work. To better examine the facies that monumental and minor cemeteries showed after Napoleon's St. Cloud Decree, it was necessary to conduct a thorough survey of a number of Italian cemeteries. Since smaller realities have never been closely studied, as works on this subject have always been more concerned with monumental cemeteries, these visitations combined with a constant archival research. The purpose of the present study is to provide a critical vision of the evolution of Savoy culture as connected to minor graveyard sites dating from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century. By studying archaeological, artistic, and historical records, rituals and burial practices of the ancient, modern, and contemporary world have been analyzed. The long excursus shows how ancient is the burial practice called ad sanctos or apud ecclesiam, which was harshly stigmatized during the Enlightenment, thus leading to the issuing of the St. Cloud Decree and to the final victory of science in the heated debate between cremationists and “inhumationists”. The phenomenon of death has also been analyzed with respect to its scientific side, focusing on its biological, physical, and chemical aspects; this was followed by an examination of how society perceives and deals with such phenomenon. ...