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The Valley Rich in Folklore

As you might imagine a land with such a long and intense history cannot but develop a rich tradition of folklore. To begin with, there is an oral history of local residents has long maintained that the
legendary Spartacus was indeed finally defeated and lies buried here in this valley instead of the more generally accepted theory of the area of Senerrchia which lies a bit further to the north


And then there is the intriguing story of the brigantines; Robin Hood like bandits who lived in the caves around here while engaging in guerrilla warfare against the occupying French during the Napoleonic period and later against invasions from the Kingdom of Sardinia in the 1860s. Supporters of the brigantines when discovered were viciously and cruelly punished by the
occupying forces.

Perhaps the, the most famous of these brigantines was the legendary Carmine Crocco , a zorro, swashbuckling character whose life’s story has inspired literature and film

Many of the local residents still today tell stories about these brigantines which have been passed down from generations. There is for example the story of a sudden lightning bolt which strikes a tree revealing to some poor shepherd a fabulous treasure which presumably some brigantine had hidden there for safekeeping. As you might expect, there are any number of ghost stories of brigantines who haunt this valley.

Another charming story is one told of a non-believer in front of the shrine, whose horse becomes agitated and is about to jump off a precipice to his death….the disbeliever in this moment of terror implores the Virgin Mary to help him; she stops the horse and saves his life….from that moment on developed the practice of launching coins at some small protruding precipice below and the myth claims that if a young girl manages to land a coin on the precipice, she will return as a bride the next year.

And to this day, young girls who dream of a future filled with fantasy and wishes come true, will Indeed, come here to launch coins of below