THE OLD WITCHES

There is this story that my grandmother told me some time ago. Of her who was close to marriage with her great love, who was later my grandfather, and of his family who searched far and wide for a photograph of her to deliver it to a maara in the country so that she could curse them and separate them for always. Fortunately, my grandmother, and despite her beauty, had only been photographed a few times.
The maare, village witches and mysterious women, were therefore nothing but great bitches. They destroyed marriages and bent men to their will. They drove them crazy, they made them worse than soulless puppets. They even managed to force them to have feelings: a drop of menstrual blood in the coffee was enough and the game was done. Imagine how many poor males have been ruined by the unbridled power of women.

How bad, what fear.
But it is something that sounds quite familiar to me, this of hatred towards the female gender. The idea that women are evil has been around since the dawn of time, and it is not necessary to bring up the history of witchcraft to prove it. It seems that the woman instigates to sin regardless: it is something inherent in her forms, so most say, in the sharp look or in the refinement of her intelligence. Whatever you touch becomes bad, dies, withers. Here in Sicily to say, and this is a land where we do not send things to say eh, here we say them exactly as they are without any fear, here in Sicily until recently women with periods were prevented from touching their plant. “You will make them die, you are unclean”, they said. We are daughters of the devil, not for nothing: we bring life and, if we want, even death.

But isn't this the ideal context, the one that sees us women as inferior beings but endowed with extraordinary abilities of manipulation, the ideal context in which to turn in our favor what instead would like to demote us? In Sicily, fifty years ago - and perhaps still today - women had no other function than that of procreating and nursing their own children and those of others; clean the house, serve the men of the family, keep your eyes down and cancel your identity within that of the father, brother, husband. It was like that for all women, but only one category was saved. That of the witches. Essential figures within society, they interceded between earthly and out-of-control things, and were just one step lower than the priests, but they were much, much more fearful.

The Sicilian maare were women who were not satisfied with living by inertia, who did not passively accept destiny and instead tried to change it, with magic, spells, prayers and all that was in their possibilities. And they had no scruples, yes, but who had scruples with them?

From the mythological Circe to the girls burned in the fires of the Inquisition, passing through the seas of the South and ending with me, the witches have been the resistance in a society that has always looked at women with distrust and superiority. And that's why I'm not ashamed of my identity as a witch. Indeed I want to tell you all here, in black and white.

VISI ITALY: TRIORA, THE TOWN OF WITCHES

Triora is a beautiful medieval village, located in the Ligurian Riviera di Ponente, perched in the splendid Argentina Valley. It owes its name to "Tria-Ora" (three mouths) indicating the three main local products (wheat, vine and chestnut)

Some women of Triora in 1588 were victims of one of the bloodiest trials for witchcraft in Liguria. Everything has been documented in the documents that are on display in the small Ethnographic and Witchcraft Museum at the beginning of the town.

The Cabotina is also worth a visit, a small building where legend has it that witches met. Visiting this ancient village is also a real pleasure for the throat. Among the typical products, the Triora bread is to be tasted: dark and homemade, prepared with flour and bran, it is part of the association of the 37 Italian breads. It is delicious spread with an ancient mountain cheese: bruss or bruzzo, ricotta fermented with herbs and spices with a slightly spicy flavor.

The ethno-historical museum of witchcraft in Triora: in the first room, the tools of ‘magical thought’ are known, with the Pio Breddo esoteric collection. In the second, the images of “Goddesses, spirits and female creatures” present in the pantheon of the accused materialize in artistic forms. In the third herbal fragrances they illustrate the phytotherapeutic skills of the “dominae herbarum”. In the fourth there is the invention of the diabolical witch and the trial of Triora with a narrator who remembers the tortures to extort confessions.

The Halloween party will take place between a monstrous game and another, to the rhythm of the music that will spread among the markets, children will go wild showing off their dark costumes and celebrating the party with dances, nursery rhymes and stories: animation, music, fashion shows and workshops. La Cabotina, the Gioco del Fuoco, the Ridda are some of the events that will animate the darkest night of the year! And for all the ghosts and hungry witches, there will be numerous refreshment points to taste the typical products of a generous land: rostelle, frisciöi, pancakes, let yourself be enchanted by these wonderful delicacies!

Magic stalls, where you can find magic potions, and skulls; sorcerer who read your future with tarot cards or by examining your hand; and again, zombies and monsters of all kinds that invade the trade of the country … In short, a large outdoor masquerade that attracts thousands of people from all over Italy every year.

This bridge crosses a tributary of the Argentina torrent and, in summer, when it thaws, it forms a splendid lake which is also very popular with swimmers. It is located in the Municipality of Molini di Triora, in the province of Imperia. A lovely place!

Unmissable stop on a trip to Triora is certainly also the Castle with the central tower and the ruins. Triora also offers some interesting churches: the church of San Dalmazzo (from whose churchyard you will enjoy a wonderful view), the rural church of San Bernardino (where you can admire the beautiful medieval frescoes) and the 17th century church of San Agostino, which houses the statuary group of the Madonna della Misericordia.

MORE BEAUTIFUL

What do you ask the people of this society? To be efficient, brilliant, beautiful. What’s so much about the women of this time? The trick. Because women always have to be perfect. They always have to be beautiful to be noticed and to be considered. women can never forget in their lives that they must always be beautiful. If they do not show themselves at their best they are considered witches, mussels, zombies. In short, women are always required to take care of their appearance. And women spend a lot of money to buy make-up products. They spend a lot of money going to the gym. To make destructive diets. Women are required to have an image always suitable for their role as females. If they don’t show this picture of themselves then they’re lesbians, or crazy, or depressed. A woman who neglects is considered depressed. If you don’t reflect the current fashion model then you are out of every pattern and therefore out of every round of friendships and stay alone. If you don’t talk about all the topics women talk about, then stay alone. Women themselves marginalize you, women themselves are the cruellest throws at other women.