I follow her on Twitter and she follows me too.  We are friends on FB. We both are working in tourism. But we had never met. Aroti Meloni is a super dynamic girl who lives and works in Narni!

The chance to meet Aroti was realised thanks to her invitation to an Educational Tour in the "Narni Underground"!

Narni Underground's Info Point

I learned about so many things and “underground” secrets, but something impressed me more... Something that is strictly linked to my hometown Todi…

Here’s the story:

A long, long time ago (around 1715) a certain Mr. Ciabbocchi  was living in Todi  along the road leading to Romazzano village.

He got married to a very attractive woman, but after a short period the wife began to change her behaviour and was becoming more and more violent … “She beat me!”, the man bore witness some years later!

Elisa, going Underground....

So the poor Ciabbocchi decided to escape from his terrible wife and he secretly moved to Narni.

In Narni he blundered , because he got married with another woman, using two false witnesses, who said he was a single man. Ciabbocchi rewarded them with a big basket of vegetables and food.

Unfortunately his trick was discovered in 1726 and the poor man was arrested and imprisoned in the underground of the Dominican Monastery.

Aroti showing some underground secrets ...

His incredible trial is described in more than 400 pages which were surprisingly discovered in 2000 in the Trinity College of Dublin! Why? Well, some monastery’s documents were sent to the Pope, but some of them were stolen and then sold to an antiquarian.

These documents testify beyond doubt that the Inquisition dungeons were located in the underground of the Domenican Monastery in Narni!

A roman cistern in the dungeons

In the monastery's map (dating to the beginning of 1700) we can read: court room, physical pains room, prison cell n.1, n.2 and n.3 ! All these venues are historically documented in the trial of Ciabbocchi from Todi!

The pains room: detail

...But what about Ciabbocchi?

He succeded in escaping from prison (killing one of the guards)! He was heading to L'Aquila (Abruzzo region) , but when he was in the Valnerina , near the border, he stopped in a church because he needed to confess the murder...

And then he blundered for the second time: he wrote a love message to his wife! "My love, meet me at Ferentillo and run away with me!"

The message was intercepted and instead of the beloved  wife, he saw the papal soldiers who were approaching… He was arrested, brought back to Narni and put to death.

Prison cell n.1: detail

The discovery of Mr.Ciabbocchi was very fun for me because there is still today in Todi , along one of the roads to Romazzano, the restaurant managed by the Cibocchi Family!!! That's incredible! The story of Ciabbocchi was not a legend, but the truth!

And to tell you all the legends and anecdotes which orbit around the Cibbocchi Restaurant, I would need another whole post!!! LOL!

For more infos you can visit www.narnisotterranea.it

A Todi la bellezza è ovunque: le chiese, i palazzi, la Piazza del Popolo, i vicoletti medievali... Ma c'è un luogo antico e silenzioso che viene troppo spesso dimenticato da noi locali e che invece , guarda un pò, viene riscoperto da un regista, Paolo Genovese, che lo usa come location per alcune scene del suo nuovo film "Una Famiglia Perfetta", uscito a fine 2012 e girato a Todi!!! 

Sto parlando del Vecchio Cimitero Urbano. Già in precedenza gli avevo dedicato un breve post: poi, in occasione della ricorrenza dei morti, ho portato i miei figli a visitare questo posto così ricco di storia e di arte e lì mi è venuta voglia non solo di fare fotografie, ma anche di girare un video.

Questo anche perchè, osservando con attenzione...