Crime room

Dear visitor,

the corridor you followed to reach this room is probably the same one that Laura Lanza di Trabìa followed, who, to escape her father, caught in an amorous attitude with Lodovico Vernagallo, quickly ran between these walls to reach the window overlooking at the back of the room, over the village below, shouting at the people to come to his aid.

Ever since, at the end of the sixteenth century, the poem "LA BARUNISSA DI CARINI", by an unknown author, saw the light, writers, critics, poets, musicians and directors have been inspired by "the bitter case" to remember the end of a delicate creature who, in her young life surrounded by so much love, was then tragically cut short. 

     The poem talks about a woman killed by her father to save the family's honor but, by free interpretation, many thought of a woman killed by her husband. More recent studies have shed full light on the fact. 

    A publication by Professor Pagliaro is important, which mentions three protocol documents, from which it appears that the Viceroy of Sicily, at the time, informed the Court of Spain that Baron Cesare Lanza had killed his daughter Laura and Lodovico Vernagallo and that the The lawyer Grimaldi had hidden the fact.

      This document constitutes a certain element that corroborates the death certificate of the Baroness, drawn up on 4 December one thousand five hundred and sixty-three which is preserved in the archives of the Mother Church of Carini.

Therefore, against all interpretations, it is noted that Don Cesare Lanza di Trabìa, conniving and complicit with his son-in-law, killed his daughter Laura, wife of Vincenzo Secondo La Grua, to harm the honor of the family, and even if not by his own hand, the same Lodovico Vernagallo, the latter, in fact, was killed by one of Vincenzo La Grua's henchmen, a certain Francesco Musso.

In fact, we find in the parish register the death certificates of the Baroness and her lover, killed on the same day and written on the same page. 

The reason for this horrendous crime is inconceivable, Laura was a woman of great virtues and great charm, and the people thought of her as an angel.

From his early childhood he had the opportunity to frequent both the La Grua and the Vernagallo families, with whose children he attended music, dance and singing schools. A great friendship arose between them, fueled by meetings, hunting trips, receptions and more. At a certain point the interest of the families took over.

Laura was a girl who could bring prestige to both the La Grua - Talamanca and the Vernagallo families, but the La Grua quickly asked her to marry them for their son Vincenzo.

At the age of fourteen, the marriage was celebrated on 21 December 1543.     

It was not possible to be preceded by the Vernagallos, even if Laura's great tenderness for Lodovico was known to everyone.

However, the fact, at least apparently, did not disturb the friendship between the families. In fact, despite everything, Lodovico was considered one of the family.

Little by little, however, jealousies and old grudges emerged between the La Grua, the Lanza and the Vernagallo families, and here are the insinuations, the slanders and finally the tragic event.        

No document exists in the family archive or in the tradition of the people that could obscure the nobility of the figure of the Baroness of Carini. His had been a friendship that had nothing lustful or evil about it, and what is said about Laura's eight children who would have had Lodovico Vernagallo as a father is pure fantasy. 

Unfortunately, the imagination of those who were later inspired by the event presented the facts from multiple aspects.

 

Following the crime, Baron Vincenzo Secondo La Grua remarried Ninfa Ruiz on May 4th 1565 and renovated some parts of the Castle that could recall the Baroness of Carini. Meanwhile, Baron Cesare Lanza, thanks to his influences at the Spanish court, manages to have the case dismissed, while the terrified people are forced to remain silent.       

 

Memorial presented by Cesare Lanza to the King of Spain to absolve himself of the crime of his daughter Laura. 

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This is the text of the letter sent:

 

        "Sacred Catholica Royal Majesty, 

       Don Cesare Lanza, Count of Mussomeli, makes it clear to Your Majesty that having gone to the Castle of Carini to see the Baroness of Carini, his daughter, as was his custom, he found the Baron of Carini, his son-in-law, very upset because he had already found same instant in her room Lodovico Vernagallo, her lover, with the said baroness, whereupon the said exponent, moved by this indignation, in the company of the said baron went and found the said baroness and her lover locked together in the said room, and so immediately in that instant hole ambodoy killed.

Don Cesare Lanza, count of Mussomeli"

 

This sad story, which really happened, has come down to us thanks to the real study done by Salvatore Marino who, in the first edition of 1871, collected the recitation of the Carina peasant storyteller, Giuseppe Gargagliano. But in 1872 Marino himself presented a second edition retouching poetically important facts compared to the first version. Finally, in 1913 he presented the poem in an edition that he himself called historical.        

 

I now invite you to rest your gaze on the marble portal of the door that leads to the stairwell that leads to the bell tower. The Latin phrase is engraved: Recedànt Vètera which translated means: Let the past be erased, probably placed when the building, under the direction of the architect Matteo Carnalivari, changed its intended use transforming from barracks to a stately home in the second half of Four hundred.

 

If you want to experience the thrill of a close encounter with a ghost, you should visit the Baroness' room on December 4, the anniversary of the Baroness' death.

Possibly in the evening!

It seems that on that very day, the anniversary of the crime, the famous bloody handprint appears on the wall.

In reality the "stain" is always visible and for the less superstitious it is nothing more than a damp patch on an ancient wall made of stone and earth.

Yet there are those who swear that on December 4th of each year that spot takes the shape of a hand and becomes reddish.

 

Only for a few hours... before returning to be absorbed into the wall and memory.

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Will it be true?

 

It's up to you to decide and... try. Certainly the unhappy souls of two lovers still populate these rooms, at least in the emotion that the story arouses.

 

Our journey, on the sad story of the Baroness of Carini, Laura Lanza di Trabìa, ends here, observing this sculpted hand and thinking about the story that happened in this castle.

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I now invite you to continue your visit, walk up the staircase leading to the atrium, and head towards the fifteenth-century staircase.