Count Cagliostro
A mysterious count dazzled 18th-century Europe with cures, séances and an 'Egyptian' secret society. His enemies said he was a Sicilian con man.
What was reported
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro appeared in the courts and salons of Europe in the 1770s and 1780s, claiming to be a healer, alchemist and master of ancient Egyptian wisdom. He founded his own branch of freemasonry, held séances in which children looking into water saw visions, and was said to cure the sick for free.
He was caught up in the 'Affair of the Diamond Necklace', a scandal at the French court, and though cleared, he was expelled from France. His enemies said he was really Giuseppe Balsamo, a swindler from Palermo. He ended his life a prisoner of the Church in the fortress of San Leo.
Explanations offered
Historians generally accept that Cagliostro and Balsamo were the same man, and that he was a gifted showman. Others see him as a sincere, if self-invented, mystic. He has inspired many novels, operas and legends, including stories that he never really died.
- When
- 1743–1795
- Where
- San Leo, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
- Witnesses
- The courts of Europe
- 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.
More from Italy