Orsini-Odescalchi Castle, Bracciano

Rome · Italy · Castle

Legend says Isabella de' Medici was strangled in the bedchamber here — and she has walked the lakeshore in sixteenth-century dress ever since.

The fortress above Lake Bracciano was the power base of the Orsini family, and it was here that Isabella de' Medici came as wife to Duke Paolo Giordano Orsini. In 1576 she died suddenly, officially of a stroke; her contemporaries immediately whispered that her husband had throttled her with a cord after learning of her lover. Roman legend places the deed in the castle's bedchamber. Since then Isabella is said to walk the halls and the lakeside path in heavy sixteenth-century clothes, always turned away from the onlooker. Guards and guests describe a door in the red chamber that will not stay shut, a sudden cold in one corridor alone, and footsteps on the wooden stair when the castle is empty.

FAQ

Where is Orsini-Odescalchi Castle, Bracciano located?

Orsini-Odescalchi Castle, Bracciano is in Rom, Italy.

More haunted places in Rom

• Salita dei Borgia Rome · Road
• Ponte Sisto Rome · Bridge
• Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo Rome · Church
• Ponte Sant'Angelo (Bridge of Angels) Rome · Bridge
• Ponte Fabricio (Bridge of the Four Heads) Rome · Bridge
• Villa Celimontana Rome · Natural site
• Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth) Rome · Church
• Villa Strohl-Fern Rome · Manor

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Livioandronico2013 / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons