The online resource on slow and experiential tourism
Join our community

5 villages with ghosts and witches for Halloween


Wednesday 11 october 2023

Scary villages and even movie sets, castles with ghosts, witches' sands, legends and mysterious phenomena, magic potions and poisons. For strong and... fearful emotions!

5 villages with ghosts and witches for Halloween

Five villages to be discovered during Halloween, atmospheres full of charm and mystery, spirits that linger in castles and witches who wink from the darkness:

1. Triora (Imperia)

It is par excellence "the village of witches", is nestled in the emerald valley of Argentina and stands at 900 meters above sea level. The ideal village to celebrate Halloween in a maze of alleys in which everything refers to witches and ancient rituals of magic, an intertwining of arches carved into the rock, streets and glimpses that look out onto alleys and branch off into the historic center.

Triora

Today Triora is a medieval jewel, but in 1588 it was the scene of one of the most ferocious witch trials ever in Italy: everything has been documented in the acts that are on display in the small Museum of Ethnography and Sorcery, and Cabotina also deserves a visit , the cottage where the witches seem to meet. A village not to be missed, Triora, just at Halloween, the witches' festival par excellence. Here even celebrated with two days of events.

2. Fosdinovo (Massa Carrara)

Fosdinovo

We are in Lunigiana, precisely between the Alpi Apuane and the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Fosdinovo is set between the sea and the hills and is dominated by a manor, also mentioned in the Dante chronicles of the Divine Comedy. It is the 12th century Malaspina castle: a quadrangular plan with four round, round towers, a semicircular bastion, two inner courtyards, walkways, hanging gardens and loggias. A historic home that is well suited to the "mood" of Halloween: it seems, in fact, that the nights of full moon materialize female presences along the trenches of the castle. The options, they say, could be two: the ghost of the Marchesa Cristina Adelaide Pallavicino - seems to have used to throw her lovers into a well once the love liason is over - or the ghost of Bianca Maria Malaspina, walled up alive in a room of the manor.

 

3. Sermoneta (Latina)

Sermoneta

Medieval and surrounded by an imposing city wall, Sermoneta is the ancient Sulmo - cited by Virgil in the Aeneid -, and looks down on Agro Pontino. The Lordship of the Catani made it an important medieval urban center and to this period date back the village, the cathedral and the manor, around which the village is gathered, with stone houses and the ups and downs of steps. A gem to be discovered, the ancient village, dominated by the castle Caetani - among the best known examples of defensive architecture of Lazio - in which stayed pontiffs, sovereigns and Lucrezia Borgia, the "lady of poisons" And Halloween is a must visit the fortress, in which the ghost of a child locked up and died violently in the castle's basement seems to be around. The popular voice claims that it is the prince depicted in a painting in the Cardinal's room. In any case, his identity remains a mystery.

 

4. Craco (Matera)

E’ nel cuore della Basilicata e le sue abitazioni diroccate dominano la valle come sculture dalla cima di un’altura rocciosa circondata da ulivi e calanchi. Craco è uno dei più celebri borghi fantasma d’Italia e la sua suggestione è proprio quella di essere sospeso nel tempo. Non ci sono case abitate, a Craco, e girare per il borgo è come ripercorrere le scene dei film e dei cortometraggi che l’hanno reso celebre: Craco, infatti, è stato set di film nazionali e internazionali del calibro di “Il Vangelo secondo Matteo” di Pier Paolo Pasolini, “La Passione” di Mel Gibson, “Cristo si è fermato a Eboli” di Francesco Rosi, “King David” di Bruce Beresford e anche alcune scene di “Basilicata coat to coast” con Rocco Papaleo. E il borgo, per anni disabitato, sta ora conoscendo una nuova stagione con nuovi cenni di vita.

 

5. Pentedattilo (Reggio Calabria)

Pentedattilo

Un borgo che è un ricamo di pietra, incastonato fra le montagne aspromontane della costa jonica e adagiato su uno sperone a forma di mano. Ed è proprio dalla particolare formazione della rupe che deriva il nome di Pentedattilo: dal greco “penta” e “daktylos”, ovvero cinque dita, con la curiosa forma di un’enorme mano semi-chiusa e il palmo rivolto al cielo. A Pentedattilo c’è un interessante Museo delle Tradizioni Popolari, ma sono i misteri e le leggende che intrigano, di questo borgo. La principale ruota tutta intorno al castello e alla strage degli Alberti. Protagonisti due nobili famiglie: gli Alberti, marchesi del borgo, e gli Abenavoli, baroni del vicino borgo di Montebello Ionico. Si narra che la notte di Pasqua del 1686 le due famiglie furono protagoniste di una strage sanguinaria in nome di Antonietta Alberti e che quando Lorenzo Alberti fu colpito a morte dal barone, poggiò la mano alla parete, lasciando l'impronta delle cinque dita insanguinate. Mistero, storia e fantasia vogliono che questa mano sia tuttora visibile nella rupe di Pentidattilo quando, nel chiarore dell’aurora, le pareti di roccia infiammate dal sole si colorano di rosso.

 

 

Don't miss anything from the world of e-borghi

Like us on our Facebook page and click on “Follow”
See great photos on our Instragram profile
Subscribe to our exclusive Youtube channel
Follow our tweets on Twitter

Sleep, eat, buy...

what else do you want
to discover?
e-borghi 2019-2024 All rights reserved • 3S Comunicazione - P. IVA 08058230965
Via Achille Grandi 46, 20017, Rho (Milano) | 02 92893360