Castel Capuano
Naples · Italy · Castle
Every 19 April Giuditta Guastamacchia is said to walk the courthouse — the woman whose head was displayed on an iron grating.
The Norman castle on Via dei Tribunali was converted in 1540 into the court and prison of the Gran Corte della Vicaria, and for three and a half centuries it was where Naples brought its criminal cases. The lower floors held cells for privileged prisoners, rooms where the rest sat chained to a single common length of iron, and the chamber known as the room of tears, where the condemned received their family's last visit. The most-told ghost story concerns Giuditta Guastamacchia, tried and executed for the murder of her husband; her head and hands were afterwards displayed on an iron grating and then kept for studies in criminal anthropology. The lawyers who work in the building call her simply the lawyers' ghost, and say she walks the corridors every 19 April, the anniversary.
FAQ
Where is Castel Capuano located?
Castel Capuano is in Neapel, Italy.
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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.
Image: Armando Mancini · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons