Benevento; City of Witches Italy

"The Witches of Benevento

Legend has it that Benevento is a land of witches and has been for thousands of years. The origins of the legend lie with the Egyptian cult of Isis -- goddess of magic and mystery among other things -- which found fertile ground in Benevento during the Roman era. The cult remained an important force here even after the cult was replaced by Christianity in other parts of Italy. When the Longobards from Central Europe took the town in A.D. 571, they imported their own religion, a nature cult based on the adoration of the god Wothan and his sacred walnut tree.

They elected an old walnut near the Ponte Leproso as the town's sacred tree. (The Ponte Leproso was a bridge built by the Romans over the Sabato River at the Via Appia's entrance to Benevento; the bridge is still in use today, and you can see it by taking a short walk west of the Teatro Romano.) Around this walnut tree -- known as the Noce di Benevento -- the Longobards held their nocturnal open-air rituals which, combined with knowledge of the cult of Isis and the vivid imagination of the locals, gave rise to the witchcraft legend.

The Longobards were converted to the Catholic religion by Saint Barbato, the town's bishop, in the 7th century A.D., and the bishop had the tree cut down. The dances stopped; yet, some say, the witches remained, and can still be seen dancing by the site on certain nights."


http://www.frommers.com/destinations/benevento/766692#sthash.gb7qHMiS.dpbs