Triora in Liguria is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, but there was a time when it was not such a quiet place.
On Triora there are many stories; some make the most skeptical smile, others fascinate for their involvement.
Of course it is, that no one leaves indifferent.
What is the true story from which the legend of the witches of Triora was born?
The most popular opinion on the birth of these beliefs is certainly linked to a period of famine and poverty that the priest Gerolamo Pozzo, responsible for investigating why misfortunes and malaise, attributed to some women in the country.
These women were accused of witchcraft and being the source of the plague, imprisoned in their own homes and then transferred to the prison of Genoa.
It was so that, for the people of this small town, every woman whose habits did not reflect the common moral was accused of being a witch.
It began one of the most famous witch trials in all of Italy, comparable to those of Salem or Loudun, during which the officials of the County of Ventimiglia and those of the Republic of Genoa began a fierce hunt, in an atmosphere of intense interrogation and torture, to actual death sentences.
Fortunately, however, only two women were actually victims of these atrocities, although many suffered segregation and torture.
To put an end to this violence came soon the excommunication for ferocity of the inhumane commissioner.
Triora was considered the main meeting place of the witches, imagine around the fountain of Campomavùe or to perform rites and sacrifices at the Cabotina, a farmhouse considered their home.
Even today this medieval village emanates a very special charm and the country has learned to transform this unfortunate page of history in a great strength especially from the tourist point of view, Trying to leave as much as possible unchanged the pivotal places of these events and creating dedicated museum.
The figure of the witch has been retrained and has become the symbol of an entire town that remembers this ruthless period with much respect through memorials and deeply felt parties.
The atmosphere that reigns in these caruggi is deliberately dark and rich of mystery but it is absolutely part of its magic.
We will accompany you to the discovery of secret places and rich in history at the border between legend and reality, will you be influenced or will you be able to remain completely detached? We could bet it will be impossible.