The author Christopher Furer visited Cyprus in March-May 1566. In the Cathedral of Famagusta he describes the following:
In the cathedral church, a certain Venetian lies buried called Carlo Capello. He was remarkable for his knowledge of three languages and other attainments, and as he came from one of the first families and was a man whose wonderful grace of manner made him generally popular, the Venetians set him to rule as their custom is for a term of two years the island of Crete and then for three years that of the island of Cyprus.
During his lifetime he ordered his epitaph to be inscribed on his tomb. " I, Carlo Capello, knight of the Republic of Venice and Viceroy of Cyprus, bade this shrine be erected for my body: but that my soul shall fly to God I have desired and believed. Hail, ye chosen of God! and win for me by your prayers His boundless mercy. ''
Reader, I lived and helped the good, but life
Was toil, and death a refuge and release.
All that is good is mind, yet all our strife
To learn and know is hushed in death's great peace.
How vain our hopes and fears! dreams, idle dreams,
Are earth's sole gift; the mind must live and soar
To its own starry home, and death, which seems
So fearful, teach us its eternal lore.
The 'What I saw...' series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus) and the Active Citizens Fund.
