Grave, niche, ossuary and urn cell: differences, concession lengths and what happens at expiry

• Common ground (campo comune): the area of the cemetery where bodies are buried in the earth, in a burial for a set time, often free for residents of the municipality.
• Grave: a burial in the ground with a monument or gravestone. It can be single, double or a family grave.
• Coffin niche (loculo colombario): a compartment in a wall, in a crypt or in the open, where the coffin is placed. It can be single or double.
• Urn niche and urn: the urn is the container with the deceased’s name and ashes; it is placed in an urn niche, in a coffin niche or in a grave. In Lugano, urns may not be placed on the surface.
• Ossuary: the structure where bones or remains, and ashes, found after an exhumation, a clearing or the closure of a cemetery are gathered.

The length depends on the municipality and the type of burial. Some examples, taken from the regulations:

• Lugano (art. 63): common ground 20 years, not renewable; single and double graves 30 years, renewable twice for 15 years; family graves 60 years, renewable once for 30; family chapels 99 years; single and double urn niches 30 years, renewable once for 15; coffin niches 99 years.
• Locarno (art. 8): 20 years in the free common ground and in free urn cells; 30 years, renewable, in paid cells and 30-year graves; indefinite in paid niches and cells, and in graves and chapels built on land granted for a fee.
• Tenero and Contra (art. 2): common section 20 years, not renewable; paid graves 20 years plus 10; ash graves 20 plus 20; family graves indefinite, with a 30-year concession renewable every 20; niches 20 plus 20; ossuaries and urn cells 20 plus 10.

Before deciding, ask the municipality for the length and the cost of each type of concession.

The cemetery land stays with the municipality: in Lugano the only way it is made available to third parties is a fixed-term concession. Monuments, gravestones, crosses and any other funerary object or ornament belong instead to the concession holders, for the length of the concession (art. 3).

Gravestones and monuments must be kept in good condition, at the concession holders’ care and expense. If maintenance is lacking, in Locarno the Municipio steps in at the expense of the people concerned.

In Lugano, 20 years after the last burial, the Municipio may clear the non-renewable burial fields. Three months before, it notifies those concerned by personal letter, if the heirs or representatives are known, and by a notice on the municipal boards and in the Foglio ufficiale. Funerary objects not collected within one month of the clearing become the property of the municipality (art. 62).

In Locarno, at the end of a free or 30-year concession that is not renewed, the remains and ashes are as a rule placed in the common ossuary. Those concerned may ask the Municipio to move them to another section of the cemetery, and the Municipio may allow their transfer to private places or other cemeteries (art. 10).

If a grave is about to expire, do not wait for the notice: write to the cemetery service and ask how to renew or what to do with the objects.

The place of burial may change over time; the memory does not. An online page with the family’s photos, biography and tributes stays available even when the grave moves or the concession ends. Aevi’s free plan has no expiry.