Atlas of Italy
Italian folklore, entry by entry
Forty-one entries from the Italian regions, each with the grade that says what kind of evidence stands behind it. Where the record is thin, the entry says so in its own first lines.
This is the part of Atlas Noctis with the least competition in English, and it is the reason these pages exist. Sleep-paralysis spirits with seventeen dialect names, a witchcraft trial that ended in acquittal because the inquisitor overruled the local vicar, night-walkers who fought witches with fennel stalks on the Ember Days, a saga presented as ancient Ladin myth that was written in 1932. Most of it has never been set out in English with its sources attached.
The grades are the whole point: A documented, B partly documented, C weakly documented. The Method page says how they are assigned, and what «I don't know» means here.
ABadaliscLombardy — Andrista di Cevo, upper Val Camonica (province of Brescia)AAnguanethe Veneto, Trentino-South Tyrol, Friuli-Venezia Giulia — Venetian and Trentino Prealps, from Val Camonica to the Slovenian borderAOm salvàrechTrentino-South Tyrol, Lombardy, Piedmont, the Aosta Valley — The whole Alpine arc, greatest density in Trentino and ValtellinaBRegno dei FanesTrentino-South Tyrol — Alpe di Fanes, Marebbe (province of Bolzano), and the Ladin DolomitesAVecia Redosegathe Veneto — Valbelluna, Cadore, Agordino; German-speaking Alpine areaCGigiàtLombardy — Val Masino (province of Sondrio), with extensions into Valchiavenna and BregagliaAMascaPiedmont — Langhe, Roero, Monferrato, Canavese, Cuneo valleysABordaEmilia-Romagna, Lombardy — The Emilian and Romagnol lowlands, extending into the Lombard plainAMazapégulEmilia-Romagna — Romagna: Forlì-Cesena, Ravenna, Rimini, with an Apennine coreCFojoncoEmilia-Romagna — Apennines between the Secchia and the Panaro, provinces of Reggio Emilia and ModenaALinchettoTuscany — Lucchesia, Versilia, GarfagnanaABuffardelloTuscany, Liguria — Val di Serchio, Garfagnana, Versilia, LunigianaAMazzamurellothe Marche, Abruzzo, Umbria — Monti Sibillini and inland Abruzzo, with a diffusion reaching as far as SardiniaAPantaficaAbruzzo, the Marche — Inland Abruzzo and the Marche; the belief covers the entire peninsula under different namesALupe menareAbruzzo, Molise — Abruzzo, all four provinces, and MoliseAPantàsemaLazio, Abruzzo, the Marche — Central Apennines: Lazio, Marche, Abruzzo. Documented localities: Jenne (province of Rome), Grotti di Cittaducale (province of Rieti), Torre Cajetani (province of Frosinone), Monti CiminiBLengheloLazio — Castelli Romani: Marino, Genzano, Albano, Colli AlbaniBJanaraCampania — Benevento and the valleys of the Sabato and the Calore; Sannio and IrpiniaBMunacielloCampania — Naples and the Vesuvian areaBMonachicchioBasilicata, Calabria — Inland Basilicata and northern Calabria; strong attestation from Aliano (province of Matera)BScazzamurieddhuApulia — The whole of Puglia, with its epicentre in the Ionian-Salentine areaATarantateApulia, Basilicata — Salento, provinces of Lecce, Brindisi and Taranto; the ritual centre is the chapel of San Paolo at GalatinaADonni di foraSicily — Sicily; trials documented at Palermo, Monreale, Sciacca, Cammarata, Agrigento, MessinaBMammadragaSicily — Sicily, the Palermo area and the centre-westBJanasSardinia — The whole of Sardinia, with density in the centre-north: Logudoro, Goceano, BarbagiaBAmmuntadoreSardinia — The whole of SardiniaAMamuthonesSardinia — Mamoiada (province of Nuoro), Barbagia di OllolaiBErchituSardinia — Central Sardinia, Barbagia and the Nuoro areaAGostanza da LibbianoTuscany — San Miniato (province of Pisa), where the trial was held; the accused came from Libbiano, a hamlet of Peccioli, in the ValderaBLa Berta di Santa Maria MaggioreTuscany — Florence, church of Santa Maria Maggiore, the side on via de' Cerretani, level with the bell towerABenandantiFriuli-Venezia Giulia — Central and eastern Friuli: Cividale del Friuli, Iassico and Brazzano near Cormòns, Udine, Aquileia, Monfalcone, LatisanaBLa Sibilla appenninicathe Marche, Umbria — Monti Sibillini, Marche side, comune of Montemonaco (province of Ascoli Piceno): Monte Sibilla (2,173 m) and Lago di PilatoCI bozzi delle fateTuscany — Fiacciano, comune of Fivizzano (province of Massa-Carrara); pools on the canale dell’Albereda, a tributary of the Rosaro stream, near Pognana, in the LunigianaALe bàzure di TrioraLiguria — Triora, upper Valle Argentina (province of Imperia), Ligurian Alps; the trial involves Genoa, Albenga and the Congregation of the Holy Office in RomeBIl drago della ValnerinaUmbria — Castel San Felice, a hamlet of Sant’Anatolia di Narco (province of Perugia); abbey of Santi Felice e Mauro, on the bank of the river NeraCIl latte del Rutorthe Aosta Valley — Rutor glacier and lakes, La Thuile (province of Aosta); the ice-dammed lake known as Santa Margherita, now goneBLa spada di San GalganoTuscany — Montesiepi and the abbey of San Galgano, comune of Chiusdino (province of Siena), Val di MerseALa focarazza di Santa CaterinaTuscany — Santa Caterina, a hamlet of Roccalbegna (province of Grosseto), south-western slopes of Monte Amiata, the Grosseto hinterlandAI vattienti di Nocera TerineseCalabria — Nocera Terinese (province of Catanzaro), Tyrrhenian Calabria; related flagellation rites are attested elsewhere in the region, for example at Verbicaro (province of Cosenza)AGl’ Cierv, il Cervo di CastelnuovoMolise — Castelnuovo al Volturno, a hamlet of Rocchetta a Volturno (province of Isernia), at the foot of the MainardeBLe sorchie e la «synagogue»the Aosta Valley — The whole of the Valle d'Aosta, with a lexical line separating the upper and middle valley from the lower valley; the documented trial of 1439 is in the community of Fénis
The atlas holds 127 entries in all. These are the Italian ones, translated first; the rest of the world is still only in Italian, at atlasnoctis.com, where the maps and the source checks also live. If you find an error — a date, a source, an attribution — write to me. Corrections are made in public, with the date.