In Umbria a story of witches

Surprise: not many witches were burned in the Middle Ages. Heretics ended up at the stake, and some of them, to overdo it, were also accused of witchcraft or other infamous sins, but in reality it was not for this reason that they were punished. Sorcerers were sometimes sentenced to light sentences, but at the end of the Middle Ages there was a resurgence, and only in 1428 in Italy the first burning of a “witch” was organized. Note the paradox: the Dark Ages had been tolerant or indifferent, while it was Humanism that started the real witch hunt, and then it was the very civilized Renaissance that unleashed it on a large scale. Many books have been written on why this happened, and we highlight in particular those of the political scientist Giorgio Galli.

In Perugia there is a Via delle Streghe (a dark alley), and it is in Umbria that in 1428 that first “witch” we mentioned above was burned: her name was Matteuccia di Francesco, she was 40 years old, and was tried and sentenced in Todi . A fact to report, often overlooked: in the witch hunt in many cases the inquisitors and the inquisitors shared a universe of values ​​and meanings, in other words the “witches”, not infrequently, were actually convinced of being such; however this is not the case with Matteuccia. She made medicinal infusions with herbs, and it seems she was also good at soothing ailments; she ended up at the stake with the accusation of being a witch, in reality the real reason for the sentence was anything but: the political opponents of Braccio Fortebracci, a powerful local gentleman, who was a client and friend of Matteuccia, orchestrated the trial of the woman for create embarrassment and trouble for him. The poor woman confessed to every accusation that was brought against her, but it was not she who really spoke in court, but the tools with which they tortured her.

Memories of the subsoil (Dostoevskij dixit): in addition to the sorcerer’s alleys, Perugia has another hidden soul, given by an entire neighborhood that between 1540 and 1543 was covered by Pope Paul III Farnese to build a fortress over it. to those who marvel at how the cities of Antiquity and the Middle Ages have shown the tendency to slowly raise their level, the Rocca Paolina offers a practical illustration of how this can happen: that medieval district has been “frozen” and preserved for us in the its architectural structures, like a kind of Pompeii, but without the need to go through a collective tragedy.

In turn, the surface part of the Rocca Paolina has undergone an important evolution: the fortress built by Pope Farnese was demolished and in its place was born a square with government buildings and an equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II.

Opposite the first king of Italy is Palazzo Cesaroni, which takes its name from the entrepreneur Ferdinando Cesaroni, who made his fortune as a builder of roads, bridges and railways and also taught the Americans how to consolidate the embankments. He was born poor, he gave himself a lot of work and out of nowhere he became very rich: in the face of certain results, even in entrepreneurial activity sometimes there seems to be a bit of witchcraft. With more luck than poor Matteuccia.