Italian Witches: an Introduction
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ITALIAN WITCHES: AN INTRODUCTION “Strega”, the Italian word for “witch” derives from a Latin and a Greek noun: “strix” (from “strideo”, that means “to emit acute sounds”), a nocturnal bird of the ancient tales, which sucked the children's blood in the cradle and poisoned them with its milk. In Italy there’s a big variety of legends about witches from the north to the south. They come from different periods, but they’re all connected with the Middle Ages, when people without an education (especially peasants) were very superstitious. So they used fantastic stories to give an explanation to some strange events. Thus witches and demons were born and people handed down them during the following centuries; nowadays there are many people who still believe in their existence. Historical documents prove the witches’ origin from the earliest times: just think of the “Hammurabi Code” (with laws regarding witchcraft) or Circe sorceressin the “Odyssey”. Italian legends are very different but very similar too, because their origins are the same, even if every witch belongs to a specific epoch. For example they’re all based on the Diana cult (the Roman goddess of hunting) and during the night these strange women become witches and they get together around a big walnut tree or in macabre feasts (called Sabba) or during the flying on magic brooms. CIMEGO Cimego was an Italian municipality with 419 residents, situated in the province of Trento, in Trentino Alto Adige. It was instituted like district in 1920 after the annexation of the region to Italy. In 1928 was aggregated to Condino municipality and then in 1946 was reformed again, separating it from Condino. In2016Cimego stops existing because it has been included with Condino and Brione, in Borgo Chiese district. Here during the 16th century legends were developed about witches, that have characterized this village. The most renowned witches are Nicolina and Brigida. About Nicolina, we don’t know much: we only understand that in 1516 “owing to her crime she was burned to set an example for the others”. About Brigida, also called Brida, we have more information: from the beginning she showed her refusal on her family and her husband. It often happened that the spouse became unbearable and since she couldn’t divorce, the sorceress opted for a murder: she was accused of giving poison to her husband. She made the same poison for her friend who was fed up with his wife, and for her lover to do the identical thing. Brida made the poison using plants, fruits and mushrooms that she found in the wood and sometimes also in her personal vegetable garden: she used all elements with specific therapeutic property that can cure people but in a different dosage can bring to death. This mysterious woman exhibited her fantastic “ability” during the trialthat she underwent with her lover: she was saved, instead the man was hanged. Nowadays we still have some “traces” about the presence of this wise woman who knew the nature and the property of herbsbetter than others and who understood how to use her mind’s powers: “Brigida’s vegetable garden”. There you can see the herbs that she used to make her potions, for example ivy and mallow. Moreoverat Christmas time in the medieval village of Quartinago it’s possible to take part in the Christmas market, where you can buy local products and eat local food like polenta served in different variations, and see local witches who bring some magic with their dances around the fire and their mysterious rituals. TRIORA At the time of the events, Triora was a fortified village at the center of intense commercial traffic between Piedmont, the coast and very close France. Politically it was ruled by the Republic of Genoa, of which it was Podesteria, defended by as many as five fortresses guarded by a garrison of soldiers of the Republic. In 1587, bad weather and poor crops led to a famine, and the desperate residents of Triora became convinced that only the work of witches could bring an end tosuch misfortune. The Inquisitor of Genoa and Albenga and the priest Girolamo del Pozzo arrived and verified the local parliament’s suspicions. Soon the first 20 women were rounded up, selected by the pointed fingers of parishioners that had been riled up during mass. 20 became 30 as the women were convinced through torture to name more of their Satanic sisters. Soon 18 of the accused broke down and confessed, dragging in 13 women, four young girls, and a single young boy as well. The Council of Elders appealed to the Inquisitors to take it slow. Out of the 30 accused and tortured, several were noble or from influential families. The trials hadn’t even begun but one of those noblewomen had died under torture, another had flung herself out of a window to her death. They were more or less ignored, but one 13-year-old girl was released, likely the daughter of someone important. The capture of these women set off witch hunts in neighboringareas, and for two years, women of Italy were rounded up and tortured mercilessly for supposed crimes against God, their neighbors, and most of all, tiny, innocent children. At least four of the women were burned at the stake, There are conflicting reports on how the others fared, some accounts say they all burned eventually, some say they were imprisoned in Genoa until the Holy Office responded to requests to end the madness and set them free. The museum: There is a museum, dedicated to the area’s agricultural and rural history, but focusing on the trials. The Ethnographic and Witchcraft Museum contains artifacts from the trials, as well as reconstructions of the tortures and interrogations. The town hosts three major events throughout the year–a summer witchcraft festival and two fall events; the mushroom festival in September; and of course, Halloween. SAN MINIATO Between Pisa and Florence there is a village called “San Miniato”, perched on a hill. At the end of the 16th century, there lived Gostanza, a fifty year-old widow, who wasn’t very rich, in fact she worked as a midwife. In Lari castle, near Pisa, Gostanzawas accusedof witchcraft: they thought she had killed some children through magical practices. They asked her what she had done and, under trial, she admitted that she had used some ointments and put a candle on pregnant women as a sign of good luck, but she didn’t say that she had caused the children’s death. After a whileGostanza was tortured with a rope and while her arms were being pulled, she admitted to having caused harm to different people; but she said that to stop the torture. In fact the following days she always confessed something new and worse to stop the torture: She said she had close relationships with various demons, then she invented that she took the form of a black cat to suck children’s blood or also to steal the holy hosts to fry them in a pan and offer them as a sacrifice to “Polletto”, the demon who was her lover. It was a short time before the condemnation to the stake. It was November and a man came to Florence: Dionigi from Costacciaro. He was an official with solid culture and he realizes that Gostanza had been inspired by the basic knowledge of people concerning the main characteristics and habits of a witch. As a result, Dionigi decided to wait to condemn her to death; so he put her in jail for a few more days. Then the inquisitor asked the woman once again if she had committed those witchcrafts and she, exhausted, admitted that she had never done anything bad and she had invented those things only because she didn’t want to be tortured. The inquisitor decided to free the widow, who was considered innocent, and advised her not to use more strange recipes and move to another city. This was the most important period for the “witch hunt” and the widow had much luck, but at the time other women were tortured and killed for reasons like Gostanza’s. Unfortunately, torture and killing at the stake were considered acceptable punishments. Gostanza’s story has recently been madeinto a film: the direction is by Paolo Benvenuti, and the film was entirely set in the area of San Miniato. You can also find a book that offers interesting implications from anthropological point of view: “Lombardi, Marilena and Franco Cardini. Gostanza, the witch of San Miniato: a healer in Medicean Tuscany. Rome: Laterza, 1989”. BENEVENTO Benevento’s witches are surely the most famous witches of Italy. Nowadays there are still lots of old people who believe in their legend. Their cult dates back to the Middle Ages, when the Langobards (a pagan population coming from northern Europe) made Benevento an important duchy. There, especially the farmers, started to use fantasy and superstition and to exchange men for demons or ancient women for witches. The tradition says that witches used to make macabre rituals around a big walnut tree during the night in Benevento’s outskirts: they used to hang a head of a billy goat or of a ramon a branch of this tree. They hit it with arrows while riding a horse counterclockwise around the tree. At the end of the ritual they used to eat the head’s meat because they believed they could acquire the animal’s strength. When the duke Romualdo decided to convert himself and the city to Christianity, the walnut tree was cut and someone says that a viper (fiend’s symbol) fell out from the trunk.