Poggio Catino. Prison cell of the White Lady

In 1933, inside the palace Olgiati in Poggio Catino a small rectangular cell was discovered, with walls made of square travertine blocks and stone floor, with a skeleton.

On a back wall, in the middle, it is a graffiti and sketched in the right corner, a very obvious bloodstain.

On the back wall there is a small stone seat with a skeleton of a young woman. The woman was buried alive in this cell.

A credible hypothesis is that this woman belonged to the Colonna family, she had been captured by the Orsini (or delivered to them) as a hostage, and left to die in revenge.

The event may date back between 1484 and 1525, the period of the most violent and bloody struggles between the two families.


Written by:
Benedicta Lee

Born in Rome from an Italian mother and American father, she works as a freelance communications manager and designer in the tourism sector, a career and interest which she is pursuing with a...

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