SCHOOL TRIP TO PAVIA
Before
Easter’s holidays, we went to Pavia for an English guided tour. The guide told us five stories about the legends
of Pavia’s ghosts.
The first
story spoke of the “Ponte coperto” on the Ticino’s river, called “Bridge of the
Devil” too. The legend says that this bridge was built by Tommaso, an inhabitant
of this city. He failed the construction two times: during the day he built it,
but during the night this bridge collapsed. At the third time he decided to
stay on the bridge all the night and so he met the devil that promised him
to build the bridge if Tommaso were the first one to cross it, because he
wanted Tommaso’s soul. Tommaso accepted,
but the morning after he didn’t cross the bridge. He bought a goat and a
cabbage, threw the cabbage on the bridge and, when the goat ran to catch it,
the devil stole her soul.
The second
story spoke of the statue of “Muto dall’accio al collo” and said that this
statue, that once was a queen, was
created by a fisherman. The legend narrates that a lot of years ago, the queen
prohibited the princess to love a
fisherman, but he launched a magic fish-net to her neck and she drowned: this
fish-net was magic because it petrified everything it touched; a lot of years
later, the queen was found again.She was a statue with a fish-net around her
neck. After the queen’s drowning, the two lovers escaped with the boat on the
river, and they were never found again.
The third
story spoke of the angel of Pavia. According to the legend, the white angel
first came to the city of Pavia when the plague sent by God manifested; he came to Pavia and cured
everybody, but he had an antagonist, that was a red dressed demon, that knocked
thehouse doors with his stick and killed the people. The second time the angel reappeared
to block the inundation.
The fourth
story spoke of a girl sent to live in a monastery for all her life because she got sick. She
became blind and, after some years spent in this monastery, she began to see
with her mind: she forecasted the future.In the past the seers were called
Sibilla, but she was little and, so, she was called Sibillina. She didn’t stand who wanted to
command other people and every time
someone asked her how to become
the boss of Pavia she answered always the same thing: “If you build the highest
tower in Pavia you will become the town leader”.
Pavia was
so called “The city of the 100 towers”but time after time these towers fell down into pieces or were destroyed.
The fifth
and last story spoke about a man called Fasolino. His job was to get bottles of
wine and took them on a boat on the river Ticino. One day, Fasolino launched a
coin into the hospital well and wished to die because he was sick and old , but the well realized
the opposite wishes and so he was condamned to live forever. He started again
to work but a day he got entangled with his foot into a rope that held the boat, and
he fell in the river; he couldn’t swim, therefore he drowned.
