The Witches of Monte Peralto: The Dark Legend Beneath the Walls of Forte Sperone

High above Genoa, where the steep slopes of the hinterland rise towards the sky, lies Monte Peralto. Today, its summit is home to Forte Sperone, one of the most impressive fortresses in the Genoese defences. The massive walls, bastions and the view over the city, the harbour and the Apennines attract walkers, history enthusiasts and photographers. Yet long before soldiers controlled the heights and cannons stood on the ramparts, the mountain is said to have been a very different place in people’s imaginations: a remote, wild place where witches and nature spirits gathered. The legend of the ‘Witches of Monte Peralto’ is part of the rich Ligurian folklore, in which the mountains, forests and remote valleys were not merely part of the landscape. They were regarded as realms of the unknown – places where Christian faith, ancient beliefs about nature, fear of the night and the need for explanations intermingled. Thus, Monte Peralto became a symbolic counterpoint to the city of Genoa: below, the bustling life characterised by trade and the sea; above, the darkness, the wind and a summit long considered inaccessible and deserted.

A mountain overlooking the city – Monte Peralto is situated in the ‘Parco delle Mura’, the park of the Genoese city walls. The hill forms part of an extensive defensive system stretching across the ridges behind Genoa. From there, it becomes clear why this location was so strategically important: whoever controlled the ridges could monitor key access points to the city and, in an emergency, repel an attack from the hinterland. However, the Forte Sperone visible today was not built in a single phase. Its history is closely linked to the construction of Genoa’s so-called New City Walls, which were erected in the 17th century. At that time, the Republic of Genoa was responding to the insecurity of the era and the need to protect its urban area more effectively. In the 19th century, the complex underwent further alterations and military extensions. Forte Sperone, as it is known today, therefore bears traces of various eras.Official tourist information from the Italian website *Italia.it* and the city’s *VisitGenoa* platform describe the fort as a striking feature of Genoa’s fortified landscape. Its location on Monte Peralto makes it a particularly impressive vantage point. Yet it is precisely this exposed position that is likely to have fired the imagination of the area’s former inhabitants.

The Legend: Witches, Ghosts and the Night – In ancient Ligurian storytelling traditions, remote places were often associated with mysterious powers. The ‘streghe’, or witches, were not described in a uniform manner. Depending on the tale, they might appear as menacing sorceresses, as women with special knowledge of herbs and remedies, or as beings who straddled the human world and the realm of nature. Their stories often reflected the fears and social tensions of the time. According to tradition, Monte Peralto was regarded as a site of nocturnal gatherings. It was said that there, in the darkness, far from the inhabited neighbourhoods, witches and nature spirits would assemble. The summit – windy, barren and long uninhabited – seemed a fitting setting for rituals, mysterious dances and incantations. Such motifs are widespread in European folk tales: remote hills, crossroads, forests and ruins were often regarded as places where the order of everyday life was temporarily suspended. It is important to distinguish between documented history and local legend. There is no reliable historical evidence of specific witchcraft rituals on Monte Peralto. The tale is, above all, part of the myth passed down orally. Its value lies not in a verifiable event, but in what it reveals about the perception of the place. People explained the mountain’s isolation, its unpredictable weather and its distance from urban life using images that were familiar to them: witches, ghosts and hidden forces.

From wild peak to fortress – Before the large modern fortifications were erected, Monte Peralto was a far less developed place. Tourist descriptions of Forte Sperone emphasise the site’s location on a mountain ridge outside the historic city centre. Shortly before the construction of the walls and fortifications, the area was considerably wilder and less shaped by human activity than it is today. With the construction of the defences, the mountain’s significance changed fundamentally. A remote natural area became a militarily controlled stronghold. Walls, guard posts, casemates and fortified paths imposed a new order on the landscape. The summit was no longer perceived merely as a boundary between the city and the wilderness, but as a shield for Genoa. In popular belief, this transformation could also be understood symbolically. According to local tradition, the massive fortress walls served not only to repel enemy armies; they are also said to have driven away the ‘pagan’ or uncanny forces associated with the mountain. The inclusion of religious elements, including a chapel within the complex, reinforced this interpretation: military power and Christian order seemed to triumph together over a place that had previously been attributed to the uncontrollable. Historically speaking, the fortress’s purpose was, of course, military in nature. The fortress was part of a defence system, not an exorcism against supernatural beings. Yet legends rarely adhere to the conventions of military records. They imbue structures with a second meaning. Where history speaks of strategy, sieges and state power, myth tells of fear, protection and the expulsion of dark forces.

Why witches, of all things? – Stories about witches did not arise out of thin air in Europe. They are linked to religious conflicts, social crises, local power structures and beliefs about illness, storms or crop failures. Women in particular – those regarded as outsiders, who practised healing arts or deviated from social norms – were often under suspicion. The European history of witch hunts is therefore not a harmless fairy-tale world, but a reminder of real violence, denunciation and miscarriages of justice. In Italy, too, there were accusations of witchcraft and trials, though these varied from region to region. Furthermore, Ligurian folk culture preserved numerous tales of nocturnal beings, guardian spirits, demons and mysterious female figures. The myth of Monte Peralto must be situated within this broader cultural context. It should not be read as a factual account of alleged ‘witches’, but rather as an expression of an era in which nature, religion and fear were more closely intertwined than in the modern perception. The fact that the mountain towered over Genoa lent the tale added power. Viewed from below, the summit could appear like a dark rim on the horizon. Fog, clouds or storms made it seem even more eerie. The people living in the city’s narrow alleys might have imagined that something was happening on the distant mountain ridge, hidden from their view. Such imaginings are typical of landscape legends: the unknown often begins where the familiar environment ends.

Forte Sperone: a place between history and fantasy – Today, Forte Sperone is primarily a destination for day trips and hikes. The path through the Parco delle Mura winds its way through a landscape where nature and military architecture interact in an unusual way. The mighty walls still look imposing, yet their former strategic function is a thing of the past. Instead of soldiers, the scene is now dominated by walkers, sports enthusiasts, history buffs and visitors. It is precisely for this reason that the legend lives on. It lends the place an extra dimension that cannot be discerned from any map of the fortress. Anyone visiting the site in the light of late afternoon or as the mist rolls in can easily understand why Monte Peralto has become the setting for mysterious tales. The fortress’s dark corridors, the wind-swept walls and the view down into the depths create an atmosphere in which history and myth almost merge. One should, however, be wary of romanticising history. The ‘Witches of Monte Peralto’ are neither a historically documented event nor a verifiable sisterhood. They are a legend – but a meaningful one. It tells of how people interpreted an untamed place before it was transformed by walls and military planning. And it shows how structures can not only secure spaces, but also reshape stories.

A myth that makes the landscape legible – Today, Monte Peralto embodies two very different forms of the past. One is visible and documented: the history of the Genoese walls, defence policy and Forte Sperone. The other is invisible, but no less fascinating: the world of folk legends, nature spirits and nocturnal witches’ sabbats. The fortress has not robbed the mountain of its legends. On the contrary: by towering so powerfully over the landscape, it provides them with a new setting. The myth of the witches of Monte Peralto is therefore not merely a horror story. It is a key to understanding how people imbue places with meaning – initially through fear of the wilderness, later through pride in military strength, and today through historical curiosity. So anyone visiting Forte Sperone encounters more than just the stones of a fortress. The memory of a mountain that was once regarded as the realm of the night still hovers above the walls. Whether witches ever danced there cannot be proven. Yet the fact that generations of people believed this to be possible is part of Genoa’s cultural history.