Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher who lived four centuries before Christ, proposed the scientific theory of horror vacui. Based on his observations, he concluded that nature fills every empty space with something, even if it is only air. In his works Gargantua and Pantagruel, the Renaissance priest, doctor and scientist Rabelais popularized this idea with the phrase Natura abhorret vacuum (“nature abhors a vacuum”).

Some days before All Souls’ Day (Nov. 2), Italians, like many other Europeans, begin visiting the graves of their deceased relatives. The cemeteries are crowded with people adorning the graves with fresh flowers and praying for the dead. In some places in Italy, there still survive other traditions that commemorate the departed.