2023-12-21 16:44:14
Time.news – “Good lettuce and Fratesca chicory but a little forebe veal dog better, but freedom better than anything”. These are the words engraved by a prisoner locked up in the prisons of Caetani Castle of Sermoneta in 1634. Hundreds of these graffiti and engravings have been found in recent years in the dungeons of the ancient manor and tell a particular story of when this place was a military fortress.
The prisons have been recovered and enhanced in recent years by the Roffredo Caetani Foundation which will open them to the public, on a completely exceptional basis, during five dates during the holiday period.
© Roffredo Caetani foundation archive
The extraordinary opening of the prisons, which will be part of the normal visit itinerary of the Castle and for which there is no increase in the entrance fee (reservation required on the website www.castellocaetanidisermoneta.it), is set for on 26 and 31 December and for 1, 6 and 7 January 2024.
© Roffredo Caetani foundation archive
It will be possible to visit the “women’s prisons” which are located close to the Sala dei Gendarmi, called in modern times “camerone”, where there are graffiti with large inscriptions on painted scrolls drawn in black or red ink ranging from 1606 to 1634, the prisons at the base of the Maschio will also be opened, called the “Pinte Rooms”, where there are eighteenth-century graffiti created most likely by the soldiers of Napoleon’s troops during the occupation of the Castle.
© Roffredo Caetani foundation archive
“During these five days – he explains the president of the Roffredo Caetani Foundation, Massimo Amodio – visitors will have the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a truly particular atmosphere, to explore the mystery-filled history of those who were locked up in those places centuries ago.”
“The recovery of the prisons, completed by the Foundation in recent years, will continue in the near future as will the restoration and conservation activity of the Castle for which we have extremely important projects with the provision of new visit itineraries which will obviously include also the dungeon area. This is therefore a preview for the upcoming holidays which, I am sure, our visitors will particularly appreciate”.
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