Castle of Baroness Scoppa

Among the most beautiful and accessible excursions in the province of Catanzaro, in the hilly woods of Cardinale (already known for the production of the delicious Calabrian Round Hazelnut), is the trek that reaches the Castle of Baroness Scoppa. In the greenery of the Serre Regional Park, among crystal clear water springs, you will find the ruins of a legendary castle. The Castle of Baroness Scoppa (or Casino) belonged to an extremely controversial female figure in modern Calabrian history: Maria Enrichetta Scoppa (1831-1910), the protagonist of macabre stories and dark legends. It is said that within the walls of her castle, now reduced to ruins but no less fascinating for that, Baroness Scoppa systematically broke her vow of chastity, entertaining herself with different men, sometimes even boys. After seducing them with deception, the unfortunate victims were made to disappear into the dungeons, if not into the nearby quicksand that characterises the biodiversity of this forest.

Lustful, miserly and paranoid to the point of fearing the vengeance of the living and the dead, the baroness is said to have been obsessed with the fear of ending up in hell, partly because her ancestors had unlawfully taken possession of some properties belonging to the nearby Charterhouse of Serra San Bruno. Driven by these fears, she apparently went so far as to cover the frescoes in the chapel she had inherited and then chisel them away to remove them permanently.

The Castle of Baroness Scoppa retains the cylindrical shape of the keep and the layout of the rooms and floors: the upper floor was home to the lady of the house and her guests; the lower floor housed the service quarters, stables and garrisons that guarded the castle throughout the year.