Castello di Carini — the Baroness's bloody handprint

OVERVIEW

The Castello di Carini is a medieval fortress at Carini, in Sicily, built by the first Norman feudal lord, Rodolfo Bonello, in the following of Count Roger I. It passed to the Abate family in 1283 and to Ubertino La Grua in 1397. Its walls date to the 11th and 12th centuries, with Arab-Norman elements in the second gate.

HISTORY

Laura Lanza di Trabia, Baroness of Carini, wife of Don Vincenzo La Grua-Talamanca, was killed by her father, for reasons of honour, together with her supposed lover Ludovico Vernagallo; the death records of both are transcribed in the historical archive of Carini's mother church. The powerful families silenced the diarists of the time. Her father, Don Cesare Lanza, was acquitted under the law then in force and made Count of Mussomeli the next year. In the mid-19th century Salvatore Salomone Marino reconstructed the story from the 'cunti' handed down by street singers.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

LEGEND. On the anniversary of the killing, the legend says, the bloody print of the murdered Baroness's hand appears on a wall of the room where she was killed. The killing is documented (1563); the handprint is legend, with no date or witness given.

VISITING

In the town of Carini.