LE STREGHE
La leggenda delle streghe di Benevento risale al lontano VII secolo d.C. quando, all'epoca del duca Romualdo, i Longobardi adoravano una vipera d'oro e celebravano degli strani rituali intorno ad un albero di noce che, secondo la leggenda e, addirittura, le testimonianze di alcune streghe, era sempre verde e sorgeva in un luogo detto "ripa delle janare", lungo il fiume Sabato.
*** 17 marzo – 17 maggio 2006
Una mostra intrigante su magia e fortuna racconta un Abruzzo terra di misteri e incantesimi. Un’archeologia “insolita” in uno dei musei più innovativi in Italia
del 03/04/2006 
Angitia, figlia di Eeta, per prima scoprì le male erbe, così dicono, e maneggiava da padrona i veleni e traeva giù la luna dal cielo; con le grida i fiumi tratteneva e, chiamandole, spogliava i monti delle selve.
Silius, Punicae, libro VIII, 495-501
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Proprio dal bosco sacro alla dea Angizia provengono le tre misteriose statue di divinità femminili rinvenute durante una recente campagna di scavi nel sito dell’area sacra di Lucus Angitiae, nei pressi di Luco dei Marsi (L’Aquila), al centro dell’insolita mostra, Fortuna e Prosperità. Dee e maghe dell’Abruzzo antico, ospitata dal 17 marzo al 17 maggio presso il Museo La Civitella di Chieti.
in antiquity Abruzzo was famed for its witches, wizards and snake-charmers, members of a tribe called the Marsi. Even today snakes feature in a bizarre religious festival in the mountain village of Cocullo :
By Laura Stortoni-Hager, from L'Italo Americano, January 2004
Capanilismo in Italian signifies absolute love and allegiance to one's own "campanile" (bell tower), to one's own "quartiere," one's own city, one's own region. Italians, as Luigi Barzini noted in his famous book, "The Italians," do not have a deep concept of national unity. A Venetian feels different from an Abruzzese, a Lombard feels very different from a Sicilian.
by Rudolph J. Vecoli
"Pagan! Heathen! Idolator!" These were among the epithets hurled at the Italian immigrants around the turn of the century. In addition to being viewed as potential mafiosi or anarchists, the sons of Italy had the further onus of being regarded as the bearers of anti-Christian beliefs and practices. The "Italian Problem" in its religious manifestation had been discovered by American churchmen, both Catholic and Protestant, well before 1900. In the following decades much energy, money, and ink were expended in efforts to find solutions to this "problem." What exactly was the nature of the Italian Problem? With few exceptions, American Protestants and Catholics agreed that the Italian immigrants were characterized by ignorance of Christian doctrine, image worship, and superstitious emotionalism. In short, they were not true Christians.(1)
Celebrating 20 Years of seamlessly blending the Sacred and the Profane.
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