Monteriggioni, a city in Tuscany with an elliptical shape, entirely surrounded by walls, shows itself to the eyes of the modern visitor in a charm not at all faded by its 800 years of history. A long past that brings with it the legend of the ghost of the well.
The betrayal of Monteriggioni
As the round Monteriggion circle of towers is crowned above, so the bank that surrounds the well towered half the person of the horrible giants. With these verses the great poet describes, in a passage from Hell, the city of Monteriggioni.
Close in the embrace of the walls that outline the perimeter and animated by fourteen towers, Monteriggioni was founded in the Middle Ages. Its history is made up of continuous battles that reiterate until the fall of the village into the hands of Cosimo dei Medici in 1554. A past marked by rivalry with the bitter enemy Florence and which is combined with the choice of its construction. Monteriggioni was in fact built by the Republic of Siena on a hill as a defensive stronghold and point of view on the Via Francigena. The imposing walls, still visible today and over which it is possible to walk, made the city and its castle impregnable.. The defeat of Monteriggioni was in fact the result of a betrayal. An infidelity that fueled the birth of the legend of the well.
The ghost of the well
On April 27, 1554, Monteriggioni was spontaneously handed over to the Florentine troops. No fighting, no sweaty conquests but rather a hefty reward. The monetary promise that Florence made to Captain Giovacchino Zeti, a Florentine exile at the helm of the castle of Monteriggioni, was 4000 ducats. In addition to the economic offer, already interesting in itself, the end of the exile and reintegration into the State of Florence was promised to Zeti. The proposal was accepted and the exchange was concluded. Could each of the two parties be satisfied? According to the legend, born shortly after the story of the betrayal, it would seem that Captain Zeti did not live the affair serenely.
In fact, it is said that his soul still wanders in perpetual torment in the underground tunnels of the city.. Those that would connect the village to Siena and from which it would be possible to go up to the surface through the well located in the square of Monteriggioni. Could Zeti have had any remorse for the deed done? Difficult to know but what remains is a legend made up of additions and embroideries, enriched by those who say that terrible screams are heard from the well. Or even from the imaginative folk tale according to which on nights of full moon a sound of horse's hoofs is added to the lament of the soul. Confused and sinister noises, heard through the pavement of the square, which connect history and chatter. And as a demonstration of how powerful the word is, this legend is still spoken today after more than 400 years.
