Azzurrina, the Girl in the Castle
A little girl with pale hair vanished in an Italian castle on midsummer's day in 1375. People say recordings made there every few years catch her voice.
What was reported
The legend says Guendalina, daughter of the lord of Montebello castle near Rimini, was born an albino, which frightened people of the time, so her mother dyed her hair with plants, giving it a blue sheen: she became known as Azzurrina, 'little blue one'. On the summer solstice of 1375, playing with a ball during a storm, she went down to the castle's ice store, and was never seen again.
Every five years, on the solstice, people say her voice can be heard in the castle: a child's laughter, crying, the patter of footsteps. Recordings made in the 1990s and since are played to visitors.
Explanations offered
No records of the time mention her, and the story may have been built up much later. Sceptics say the recordings are wind, the storm, or noise in the equipment. The castle is open to visitors and tells her story on its tours.
- When
- Said to be 21 June 1375
- Where
- Montebello, Poggio Torriana, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
- Witnesses
- Italian legend, and visitors to the castle
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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