This ghost is asking for revenge - The Wandering Writer

Continuing a journey to the castles with particular stories.

The one I am going to tell you about the Catajo Castle (Castello del Catajo) which is in the surrounding of Padova (North Italy).

The castle was built around the year 1570 by Pio Enea I Obbizzi, an Italian marquise.

During the 1600-1700 the castle was expanded and acquired by the noble family of Asburgo-Este, dukes of Modena and Reggio. The property is nowadays a private property, but it is open to the public as a museum. The origin of the name "Catajo" is not really clear, and there are many theories about the real root, but those are nothing more than assumptions. Being private property, you can imagine that it is kept in its pristine splendor, and so it is. Walking through the halls, which ceilings are decorated with the most beautiful frescoes and the walls display stunning paintings, you can easily get lost in the admiration.

The history of the castle is very long, and the stories told from a generation to another are many, particularly those which involve violence. Nevertheless, there is one story that keeps telling about itself; the story of Lucrezia degli Obbizzi (1612-1654), wife of Enea II degli Obbizzi.

The story tells about her beauty, which attracted the morbid attention of a friend of her husband, Attilio Pavanello.

Lucrezia rejected on many occasions the attentions of Attilio, but it seemed that this instead of discouraging him, had the contrary effect, and one night he intruded in her bedroom and killed her with a razor.

The murder, due to its brutality, was a hot topic for a long time, and many books have been written about this woman and her terrible death.

Also, the facts bonded to her presence still haunting the castle, mainly the place where the monument dedicated to her is placed and the bedroom where the murder was consumed.

 I have personally not seen the ghost of Lucrezia, but many people can swear having seen her dressed in a blue dress together with unexplained phenomena.

The fact of believing or not, it is apparently up to each of us. This does not take away how fascinating the life, and particularly the death of this woman is since for many centuries chronicle has been speculating about her murder. It is also intriguing to understand that with all the murderous facts that eventually happened within the wall of the castle only this one reached us today, as the most important murder.

Perhaps it is all because of the ghost, or because an innocent dame was murdered because of her beauty, in a world where women were not sufficiently respected and were often victims of vicious men.

You might wish to add this castle to the places to be visited in Italy and the surroundings. Being the castle inside the National park of the Colli Euganei, (an historical site) I am sure you will find many other attractions, which will crown the experience with stunning nature, incredible history, beautiful little towns and as usual unforgettable food experience.

As usual, I will come back next week to tell something more, hoping you enjoyed my blog post and you will follow me on the next.

Have a great weekend!!