Christmas Tour: Witches in Rome

From EUR €195.00
  • Duration: 2 Hours (approx.)
  • Location: Rome
  • Product code: Christmas0007

‘Witches have ceased to exist when we have ceased to burn them’ wrote Voltaire, but in Rome witchcraft has been known since ancient times. The ‘Lex Cornelia de Sicariis et veneficiis’ the Roman law explicitly forbidding magical practices.

But it wasn’t until the dark ages when witches and practicing witchcraft started to increase. San Bernardino da Siena completed numerous exercisms and for 15 days preached against the practices, burning the symbols in Campidoglio. Roman witches included numerous women, including the famous; the influential sister in law of Pope Innocent X Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphili, Costanza De Cupis, Christian of Sweden to the most popular streghe di San Giovanni.