Ca’ Dario dipinto da Claude Monet

Explore the hidden secrets of cities of art: from mysterious legends to forgotten stories, discover an unseen side of Venice, Florence, Rome and other Italian cities.

The cities of art we love to visit hide much more than what appears on the surface.
Behind the façades of cathedrals, in the streets less travelled by tourists or even within the walls of the most famous monuments, lie forgotten stories, mysterious legends and unexpected secrets. Discovering these stories is not just about exploring the past, but getting in touch with the deepest soul of cities.
Fancy discovering what lies beyond the beauty?

THE HIDDEN SECRETS OF CITIES OF ART

Torre del Mangia, Siena

When we walk through cities like Venice, Florence or Siena, we are fascinated by their timeless beauty. If we look closer, however, we might be surprised by the less visible, darker and equally intriguing side: the hidden stories that few people know about.

1. Venice and the mystery of Ca’ Dario

Among the palaces of Venice, Palazzo Dario is known not only for its elegant architecture, but also for a series of mysterious events. It is said that whoever owns the palace, which overlooks the Grand Canal, is either destined to lose everything or come to a tragic end. From the merchant who had it built to its successive owners, the ‘Palazzo Maledetto’ has seen a long trail of misfortunes.

Legend has it that the Darius family, who built the palace, suffered a series of misfortunes and ended up losing their entire fortune, and that Marietta, the daughter of the man who ordered its construction, committed suicide because of the financial collapse and was stabbed to death. One of their descendants, Giacomo Barbaro, also died in an ambush on the island of Crete.
The next owner, an Armenian merchant, suffered a serious financial collapse after buying the palace and was forced to sell it to the Englishman Rawdon Brown, who in turn had to sell it because he could no longer afford the expensive renovation. Its most recent owner, the businessman Raul Gardini, also suffered a financial collapse, a court investigation and committed suicide.

In short, a troubled story on the borderline between myth and reality. The aura of mystery surrounding this place only amplifies its fascination.

1. Florence and the Devil’s Breath

Strolling around Via dello Studio in Florence, near the cathedral, one cannot help but feel a light breeze, which in the colder months is an icy wind and which the Florentines call the ‘devil’s breath’.
This atmospheric phenomenon hides a mysterious legend that says that on one day in an unspecified era, the devil chased a priest along the streets of Florence, trying in every way to steal his soul. Arriving in front of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the man told the devil that he would like to pray one last time before suffering eternal damnation. The devil agreed and leaned against the cathedral while waiting for the priest to come out.
The priest obviously took advantage of this moment to escape, using another of the Cathedral doors. In the meantime, the devil began to puff from the boredom of waiting, thus raising a slight breeze.

Discovering that he had been mocked, the devil turned his puff into a real, impetuous wind. Since then, the devil’s breath has never stopped blowing, and when you walk through that place you can still hear the demonic breath of those who, even today, wait in vain for the priest whose soul he wanted to steal to come out of the church.

1. Naples and the mystery of the Sansevero Chapel

The Sansevero Chapel is famous for the Veiled Christ, but the whole place is shrouded in an aura of mystery.
Raimondo di Sangro, the alchemist who was its patron, has left behind unsolved enigmas, such as the alleged anatomical experiments that created the famous ‘anatomical machines’. A visit here is a journey through art, science and the occult.

To the people of Naples in the mid 18th century, the Prince of Sansevero appeared as a godless sorcerer. A demonic alchemist without mercy, who had poor unfortunates kidnapped to turn them into guinea pigs for diabolical experiments performed in secret laboratories hidden in the basement of his palace, in Largo San Domenico Maggiore.
Many believed, in fact, that the Veiled Christ and the illusory transparency of the shroud was the result of an alchemical process of ‘marbling’ carried out by the Prince himself.
History, on the other hand, tells us of an ‘enlightened’ man, indeed of an intellectual who dedicated himself to the most disparate fields of science and the arts, achieving results that his contemporaries already described as ‘prodigious’.

Raimondo di Sangro’s true obsession was to amaze, and he succeeded, as we are still amazed by his works today. In addition to the Veiled Christ, in the underground cavea of the Chapel you can admire the famous Anatomical Machines, real skeletons of a man and a woman wrapped in circulatory system in an exceptional state of preservation.
Creepy and mysterious, they have for centuries fuelled the ‘black legend’ of the Prince. According to popular belief, Raimondo di Sangro had two of his servants killed in order to embalm their bodies in such a way that their viscera, arteries and veins could be seen.

This place therefore has everything you need to visit Naples in a different way: mystery, legend and esoteric art.

4. 1. Bologna and the Three Suspended Arrows

   In the heart of Bologna, under the Portico of Strada Maggiore, are three arrows stuck in the wooden ceiling.
   Legend has it that three archers, hired to assassinate a woman who had betrayed her husband, were distracted by the woman who showed herself in all her beauty: completely naked.
   The distracted archers fired their shots in vain and the arrows are still there to prove it.

   The place you need to look is Casa Isolani, a 13th-century building connected to Palazzo Isolani, overlooking Piazza Santo Stefano. It is not easy to see the arrows, but they are there, in the 13th-century oak portico, one of the tallest to be found in the almost forty kilometres of porticoes in Bologna. Even today, many stop to look for them and discover their secret.

   1. Siena and the cursed Torre del Mangia

   Siena is famous for its Piazza del Campo, but not everyone knows that the Torre del Mangia carries a secret.When it was built, coins were buried there to protect the city from misfortune . It is said that anyone who tries to breach the tower will suffer dire consequences. Reality or suggestion?

   The Torre del Mangia is the civic tower of the Palazzo Pubblico and it took about ten years to complete. Its construction began in 1338 by the brothers Francesco and Mucci di Rinaldo, directed by Agostino di Giovanni. It seems that it was they who walled up, at the four corners of the tower, lucky coins with engraved Hebrew and Latin letters. It was a medieval custom and served to protect very tall buildings from lightning and misfortune.

   1. Rome and the secrets of the Porta Alchemica

   In the Esquiline district of Rome there is a place that few people know about: the Porta Alchemica in Piazza Vittorio. Built in the 17th century, it is the only remaining evidence of a villa dedicated to alchemy.
   The strange symbols carved on the door promise to reveal the secret of turning lead into gold… but only to those with the key.

   The door is what remains of Villa Palombara, the residence of Marquis Massimiliano Savelli Palombara. He was a Roman aristocrat and refined man of letters, passionate about alchemy and esotericism. In fact, it is said that on a night in 1680, a traveller was a guest at the Villa, perhaps the alchemist doctor Francesco Borri. He went to the garden in search of a herb needed for an experiment that would produce gold, but never returned to the Villa. The next morning, the man had disappeared, leaving behind traces of pure gold and mysterious manuscripts full of symbols and alchemical formulas.

   Marquis Massimiliano Savelli Palombara, convinced that the manuscript contained the secret of the Philosopher’s Stone, had the magical ‘recipe’ engraved on the ‘Alchemical Gate’.

   Those who go to the door today find it guarded by two statues of the Egyptian god Bes, found in the excavations at the Quirinale at the end of the 19th century, waiting for someone to decipher what is still an unsolved enigma.

Porta Magica Roma

These stories show that cities of art are much more than what we see at first glance. Every stone, every wall can hide a story, a mystery, a secret. The next time you visit a city, let your curiosity guide you: you might discover its most enigmatic and surprising side.