The Mammalucco association under the aegis of Marco Nicoli has presented many events which have enlivened life in Fornoli to a very considerable extent. It is sad, therefore, that thanks to this pandemic so many of these events have had to be cancelled, in particular February’s colourful carnival.
It was thus marvellous that theatre returned to Fornoli the other night in the form of a dramatic monologue, ‘streghe’ (witches) given by Michela Innocenti accompanied by her daughter on Celtic harp and both members of the ‘Circo e la Luna’ company.
Michela’s monologue was centred on women who cure ailments through the use of natural herbs and by ‘signing’ (i.e. a sort of laying on of hands). Unfortunately, many of them have been (and some still continue to be) accused of witchcraft and some have even found their lives terminated at the stake because of this. Michela’s performance, which took place (ironically, in view of its supposedly anti-religious subject matter) in front of Fornoli’s parish church in the area known as ‘sagrato’ (or holy place), was very effective and her daughter’s harp accompaniment most atmospheric.
I worked with Michela Innocenti four years ago in an amateur production of Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Bagni di Lucca’s Teatro Academico where I played the part of Scrooge. It was a truly great experience I must admit but a little difficult to learn my lines in Italian!
Michela’s monologue was based on her own interpretation of local historical facts. Underlining her script, nevertheless, are several well-documented episodes of witchcraft in our province. In particular I noted the following instance:
In the summer of 1571 there was a trial in Lucca which caused a great sensation and much fear. The defendants, Pulisena di Giovan Maria da San Macario and Margherita di Tardino Pardini da San Rocco, had both been jailed on charges of being witches and associating with the devil. It all began when a certain Pollonia ran to the town council and told them that the two alleged witches, after having cast a spell on her by order of Bartolomea her sister, had deceived Pollonia that they could free her from their tormenting, first by pretending to remove the curse, second by treating, with mysterious ointments, certain aches that had remained with her.
Imprisoned and summoned before the civil authorities, the defendants had initially denied any charges while admitting to having, in the past, but only rarely, made medicine to cure the sick and treat children suffering from tertiary fever. These confessions led the judges to further investigate and to call several witnesses. Most of these admitted resorting to the help of the two accused who were well-known in the city for their skill in curing all sorts of illnesses and also making love potions to arouse passion in indifferent hearts. The first ones who had experienced these particular gifts were Pulisena’s old lovers, who, enchanted by her spells, admitted they had been subjugated to her caresses.
Since the defendants denied all accusations, the town council decided to ‘show them the instruments’ and subject them to torture. Pulisena began to make a few confessions which certainly could not worsen her situation. She spoke of remedies made with herbs and certain prayers to be recited at the bedside of the sick. Margherita, on the other hand, who had been hung up with her arms tied above her head and was being hard-pressed by the Inquisition’s questions, began to confess and what she said inexorably sealed her and her friend’s fate: Margherita admitted she was a witch and that she had seduced children to obtain from their tender flesh the fat needed to make an ointment which she spread over her body and enable her to fly to the witches’ meeting-place. Margherita was thirty when she first joined the witches. It was not her own choice but she was persuaded to do so by her dying grandmother who was also a witch. Tortured first with the rack, then with fire and finally subjected to the “vegghia” Pulisena ended up by giving blood-curdling screams of agony under duress.
The ‘vegghia’ or ‘veglia’ is also called the ‘Cradle of Judas’ and is another torture instrument of the Holy Inquisition. Here one was suspended above a sharp-tipped object. By means of a system of ropes the victim was shifted around so that the object’s tip penetrated their genitals or anus. In reality the real torture consisted in the permanent wakefulness of the condemned who was not allowed to relax or sleep given the underlying penetration. The battered person, surrounded from the abdomen by a metal ring and connected to the ceiling and walls by the ropes, was dropped, more or less violently, on that pointed wedge held by a tripod. An example of this instrument may be seen in most museums dedicated to torture like the one at Lucca.
Margherita admitted that every time she heard the witches’ call she would ride on a magic goat and fly to the Prato Fiorito (the mountain behind our village) where she had sex with devils and dance until dawn. All agreed she was a witch: she had bewitched her husband, killed children, stolen the Church’s Blessed Hosts and even denied her own baptism. Margherita’s devil, the one she had sex with on the nights of the witches’ Sabbaths, was called Calcabrino. He was a huge and passionate demon, very handsome even though his feet were like cloven goat’s hooves.
There was enough evidence for exemplary punishment. Declared witches the two poor women, exhausted by constant torture, were condemned to die at the stake in Lucca’s main square. Luckily, Pulisena and Margherita are the only two Lucchesi witches to be condemned to the flames of the stake but they did contribute to the myth of Lucca as a supernatural city full of mysteries.
At least we should be grateful that only two witches were burnt in Lucca! This compares favourably with the thousands burned in the great witch trials of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in other European cities. Of the estimated 100,000 witches burnt in Europe the majority were in Germany and Switzerland. In Italy the worst place for witch-burning is the town of Triora, Liguria where between 1587 and 1589 at least ten unfortunate women were consigned to the flames.
Incidentally, the reason for condemning the poor wretches at Triora was that they were found guilty of spreading an epidemic through magical charms and witchcraft spells. I cannot help thinking that there has to be some similarity between what happened then and what is happening now throughout the world. The conspiracy-theorists in the pandemic believe that the current Covid-19 pandemic is being spread by a sinister internationalist cabal and point to evil malefactors. Part of this arcane plot is the use of vaccines which have not yet stood the test of time. So far no-one has today been burnt at the stake or even punished for spreading this contemporary plague. However, there are several instances of people accused of spreading the infection by coughing, spitting, not wearing masks etc. and, no doubt, in some of the more primitive parts of the Earth there may be accusations of witchcraft.
It was, therefore, truly interesting and very relevant to attend Michela’s performance. I just hope that dark shades from the past won’t re-emerge in our so-called ‘modern’ age and that primaeval instincts won’t come out from the murky depths of the subconscious to create a new far-reaching witch-hunt today. If this seems far-fetched or wild imaginings to some I would like to remind my readers of two recent instances in the Lucchesia. First, one of our local policemen, now transferred to another town, was specially sent to Chicago for training in uncovering satanic cults. He informed me than there are several such cults operating in our area although so far no arrests have been made for any serious crimes. Second, a churchman from our comune, a person very much appreciated by locals for his initiative in getting the parish together for music and sports events especially among younger people, was glad to be transferred to another parish as he found the proliferation of satanic cults in our area rather disturbing.
If anybody still doubts what I have written then I’ll just point out to them Borgo a Mozzano’s Devil’s Bridge and that town’s Halloween festival. And this is coming from someone who too has been a participant in witchcraft rituals including walking on fire as you may read at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/06/19/a-walk-on-the-wild-side/
PS perhaps a less scary event will happen at the end of this month with Fornoli’s evening market and vintage car show, again organised by ‘Il Mammalucco’:
From London to La Costa (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Three 