Italy's most esoteric places: 20 mysterious destinations region by region

The Italian territory boasts a millenary history, written by the different peoples and cultures that have passed through it over the centuries.
By building castles, underground cities, villages, parks and churches, these peoples have made Italy one of the most esoteric, mysterious and fascinating countries in the world.

We at VisitItaly have put together a list of our favourites, including places, myths and legends. Here then are the 20 most esoteric places in Italy.

Considered the most mysterious village in Italy, Rosazza, nestled in the Biellese pre-Alps, owes its fame to Federico Rosazza, philanthropist and dreamer, Senator of the Kingdom and Grand Worshipful Master of Biellese Freemasonry. Thanks to his friend Giuseppe Maffei, architect and also a Freemason, he donated works and buildings to the small village with clear references to the mysteries of the lodge and different historical periods, such as the battlements of the Guelfa tower, the colonnades of the temples of Paestum and the Etruscan arch of the city of Volterra.

If you are planning a trip to Lake Como, a walk to the Orrido di Bellano is not to be missed on your list of things to see: the orrido is a gorge that was formed millions of years ago by the Pioverna torrent, forming beautiful caves that can be admired thanks to the footbridges that connect its banks.

At the beginning of the path leading to the Orrido is the Casa del Diavolo (House of the Devil), a turret built close to the river: it is thought that in the 17th century it served to control lake navigation, but its name is linked to the mythological figures, including a satyr, that decorate the façade on the top floor. Given the esoteric symbols present, many are ready to swear that satanic or pagan rituals were celebrated there until recently.

In Liguria's hinterland hides a village famous for the largest witchcraft trial that took place in Italy: at the end of the 16th century, more than 300 women were accused of witchcraft in Triora, tried, tortured and killed, so much so that the village was given the name 'Italian Salem'.

Now the village is home to the Ethnographic Museum of Witchcraft, and on the first Sunday after Ferragosto (mid-August), a festival is held in its honour, the Strigora.

The Sanctuary of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Sombreno (Bergamo) is one of the sacred places in northern Italy that guards a little mystery: in fact, hanging from a chain from the ceiling is a gigantic rib (almost 2 metres long) belonging to an animal, the Tarantasio dragon.

Legend has it that around 1000 A.D., near Milan, there was Lake Gerundo, inhabited by a ferocious dragon that fed on anyone who dared to approach the lake to fish, and with its pestilential breath, made everyone in the area sick. It was defeated by the valiant Umberto Visconti, who decided to depict the dragon on the herald of his family, which later founded the city of Milan.

Legend has it that Tarantasio's skeleton was split into several parts and kept in various places in northern Italy. The rib found in Sombreno is still a mystery to all scholars and palaeontologists.

Umbria is famous for its esoteric places, and in the province of Terni you can find a place that combines religion and mysticism: on the land surrounding the monastery that St Francis founded in 1218 stands Tomaso Buzzi's Ideal City, a symbolic and alchemic journey of surrealist architecture, with staircases branching off in all directions, buildings and monuments piled high, monsters and deliberate disproportions.

The Scarzuola create a bond between the sacred city constituted by the Franciscan monastery and Buzzi's profane city, a link made even stronger by the flow of sacred water made to gush from a rose and laurel bush by Saint Francis.
A mystical and surreal journey not to be missed!

A short distance from the city of Ancona are two treasures of inestimable value: we are talking about the Camerano and Osimo caves, veritable underground cities that extend for kilometres below the surface.

Dating back to the period of the first settlements of the Picenes, over the centuries they have been used for a variety of purposes, from a refuge for the populations to a place of preservation for food and wine. But in this maze of labyrinths that have wonderfully survived the passage of time, it will be easy for you to come across pagan and religious altars, tombstones, decorations, friezes and ornamental motifs, as well as remnants of Masonic temples and symbols of the Templar Order.

Near Piazza Vittorio in Rome in the 17th century stood Villa Palombara, the home of the Marquis of Pietraforte, a well-known alchemist, on the Esquiline Hill.

After the destruction of the villa, the Porta Alchemica is the only one that has survived of the villa's five doors, perhaps because of the magical aura that surrounded it: legend has it that a doctor went to this villa in search of miraculous herbs, but he disappeared through the door, leaving only a few straws of pure gold and some notes with scribbled symbols at the entrance.

The symbols are those that can now be seen engraved on the door to be handed down to posterity and especially to those who would sooner or later decipher them by solving the riddle of the doctor's experiment.

If you are passing through Bologna and are looking for a surprising place to visit, Rocchetta Mattei is for you: built by Count Mattei in the mid-19th century, the structure was modified several times, making it a labyrinth of towers, monumental staircases, reception rooms, and private rooms that recall different styles: from neo-medieval to neo-Renaissance, from Moorish to Art Nouveau.

But it is not so much the architecture that attracts the attention of the curious, but the secrets behind the Count's medical practices: in fact, he is known throughout the world as the inventor of Electrohomoeopathy, an alternative medicine that took its cues from homeopathy, Chinese medicine and herbalism, to which he added a touch of alchemy.
Even today, his fomulations are still the subject of study and discussion.

Have you ever thought of visiting an underwater archaeological park?
Well yes, just a few kilometres from the centre of Naples, in Campi Flegrei, lies the sunken city of Baia, which in Roman times was a centre of holidaying, entertainment and recreation, as well as famous for its curative thermal springs.

Plundered and then abandoned, slowly the remains of the luxurious city were swallowed up by the sea, but now you can admire the city's crumbling structures and incredibly well-preserved statuary with glass-bottomed boats, snorkelling or diving to swim among the marvellous ruins.

From Virgil to Dante, from Leopardi to Galileo, there are many men of letters and philosophers who have thought that one of the gates to hell was located here, in the Archaeological Park of Cumae next to the waters of Lake Avernus, near Pozzuoli. Here, in fact, you can enter a tunnel of over 130 metres dug into the tuff between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, the same tunnel that Virgil made Aeneas pass through in the epic poem to enter Hades and find his father Anchises.

What fuels the ancient belief are the natural phenomena linked to Lake Avernus, literally 'without birds': in fact, even on the brightest days, no birds are seen flying over the lake or nesting in the surrounding foliage. Could it be the sulphurous vapours from the infernal cavern below that disturb the birds' flight?

Originally guarding the Gulf of Catania, Ursino Castle is the oldest monument in the city. Built by Frederick II of Swabia to assert his supremacy over the people and discourage any revolt, the castle shows in its construction the emperor's passion for physics, astronomy and mathematics, considered at the time to be the only way to enter into perfect harmony with the universe: the square shape chosen for the castle's plan, in fact, alludes to the earth and to dominion over earthly and physical manifestation.

The mysterious fascination of the Ursino Castle is given above all by the metaphysical symbols that decorate it, such as Solomon's Knot visible on the cross in the courtyard, or the five-pointed star, located on the eastern balconies, whose internal pentagram symbolises the five metaphysical elements of water, air, fire, earth and spirit.
But the monument attracts paranormal enthusiasts for the phenomena that occur very often within its walls: doors opening or creaking, screams, sinister noises witnessed by insiders and visitors.