Three creepy places to visit in Italy

Each country has a list of creepy places. Places where strange things happen, where people have heard strange noises or have seen strange figures.

Of course, this could be just a figment of people’s imagination but what if it wasn’t?

Aren’t you curious to discover if all the stories about those many creepy places are actually true?

If so, in this article I’ll list three creepy places to visit when you’re in Italy.

CASTELLO DI MONTEBELLO

Among all the creepy places in Italy, Montebello castle is surely one of the most known.

Montebello castle stands on a hilltop in a small village near Rimini, in the Emilia-Romagna region.

This castle is well known in Italy for its tragic story.

Montebello castle was the home of Lord Ugolinuccio da Montebello, his wife, and their daughter Guendolina.

Guendolina was born with albinism, a congenital disorder that causes the complete or partial absence of pigment in someone’s eyes, hair and skin.

In the XIV century being an albino was considered a sign of the devil and many people were burnt at stake just for this.

To protect Guendolina, her mother used to dye her hair, thinking that in this way she could hide her daughter’s albinism to people.

However, the color used to fade away quickly, leaving Guendolina’s hair pale blue – a really strange hair color. For this reason, Guendalina was nicknamed Azzurrina, meaning the little light blue one.

Always to protect Azzurrina, his father never let her out of the castle and assigned her two personal guards to watch over her.

The legend says that, on June 21st 1375, while there was a storm outside, five-years old Azzurrina was playing with a ball in the castle.

The ball fell down the basement stairs and Azzurrina ran after it.

Nobody knows what happened next since Azzurrina disappeared into thin air and her body was never to be found.

The legend says that her restless spirit still inhabits the castle.

You can visit this haunted place both by day and by night. For information about prices, and opening days have a look at the official website of Montebello castle.

At the end of the tour you can also listen to some of the recordings made by ghosthunters of what seems to be the voice of Azzurrina.

CASTELLO DI MALGRA’

Another Italian haunted place to see is Malgrà castle.

Malgrà castle is located in a small village in the Piedmont region called Rivarolo Canavese.

This castle was built by the Counts San Martino in the XVII century and since then it was inhabited by many different people.

The legend says that one of this inhabitans was a young woman who, for unknown reasons, was murdered by her own husband.

Once dead, the spirit of the woman decided to haunt the castle scaring her murderer so much that he decided to kill himself.

Some people swear they have heard screams, footsteps noises and even seen a woman with her throat cut and covered in blood wandering around the castle.

CASTELLO DI BARDI 

The third Italian haunted place to see is Bardi Castle, located in Bardi, a village near Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region.

The legend says that in the XIV century Moroello, a young Knight Commander, fell in love with Soleste, the castellan’s daughter.

But their love was not tolerated by Soleste’s father. Indeed, Moroello wasn’t a noble and in addition to this, Soleste had also already been promised to a famous Lord.

One day, Moroello had to leave to fight a battle.

During his absence, Soleste climbed up the castle’s tower every day and looked at the road, hoping for her lover to come back to her.

Finally, some weeks later she saw a group of soldiers approaching the Castle of Bardi.

That soldiers were dressed like the enemy and were carrying the enemy’s flag – both to highlight their victory and to humiliate the enemy.

Soleste misunderstood the situation and thought instead that Moroello died in the battle.

She couldn’t bear the pain of her loss and so decided to immediately throw herself off the tower.

When Moroello arrived at the Castles of Bardi and discovered what had happened to his lover, he decided to kill himself too, jumping off one of the castle’s towers.

The legend says that the spirit of Moroello is still wandering in the castle, trying to find Soleste.

If you’re brave enough to visit this Italian haunted palce, the incredible news is that this year you can even spend Halloween night in there!

Did you already know these three creepy places in Italy?
Have you already visited them? What do you think about them?

If you’re interested in some other creepy places to visit in Italy, have a look at Visit Venice – Mysterious places to see.

---

Credits

Original image by Filippo Aneli