Marguerite Rigoglioso, “Stregoneria,”

1For this inquiry I set out to investigate the following questions: What is Italian witchcraft?Has itever been a bona fide religious system, or merely an incoherent amalgam of magico-religiouspractices handed down from an earlier era? What are its origins and how has it manifestedthroughout history? Was it, in fact, a demonic art? Is it practiced today? If so, in whatform? HasItalian witchcraft been carried by Italian immigrants to the shores of America? If so, howdoesAmerican stregoneria compare with Italian stregoneria?The methodologies I have used in conducting this research include historical andhermeneutical analysis, as well as narrative interviews. For the latter, I spoke with anexpert onSicilian folk magic as well as four Americans of Italian descent who call themselves“streghe”(witches) and, as such, claim to be practicing the old pre-Christian religion of Italy thathas beenpassed down to them through their family lines. I also spoke with a contemporaryAmericanclairvoyant who is not of the strega tradition but has provided some general insights onthephenomenon. For historical and ethnographical background, I have turned mainly to thework of scholars such as Carlo Ginzberg, Charles G. Leland, Frederick Elworthy, GustavHenningsen, PeterKingsley, and Elsa Guggino. The writings of two contemporary Italian-Americanwitches, Raven

Grimassi and Leo Martello, have provided information on modern-day Italian witchcraft.I should note here that the word for witchcraft in the modern Italian language is“stregoneria.” However, various writers, including Charles Leland and Raven Grimassi,refer to itas “stregheria” (or even the misspelled “stregeria,”), claming that this is the termhistorically usedby its practitioners. As at this point in my research I have not yet confirmed whetherwitches inItaly have in fact ever called their craft “stregheria,” I will use the term “stregoneria.” Inaddition,ethnologist Elsa Guggino maintains that in Sicily the word “strega” is used disparaginglytodescribe someone who practices malevolent magic; other words such as “maga” are usedinsteadto denote practitioners of the healing and magical arts.

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Nevertheless, for simplicity’s sake I tenduse the word “strega” (and its plural, “streghe”) throughout this paper to mean “witch” inall

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Personal interview with Elsa Guggino, April 6, 2000.

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Marguerite Rigoglioso, “Stregoneria,”

2senses of the word. Also for simplicity’s sake, I use the feminine form of the word inItalian forboth men and women.

Historical and Ethnographical Evidence for the Existence of Italian Witchcraft

In Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath, Carlo Ginzberg examines testimonies intheEuropean witch trials from the 14th through 17th centuries and teases out a deepsubstratum of popular beliefs and practices that amount to a hidden shamanic culture operating in Italyduring thatperiod. Arguing that diabolism was a projection on the part of Catholic inquisitors,Ginzbergdetermines from trial records that an ecstatic cult existed at the time, one centered on thevenerationof a female deity or female spirits variously named Diana, Herodiana, Herodias, Abundia,Richella,Madonna Oriente, la Matrona, the “Good Mistress,” the “Teacher,” the “Greek Mistress,”the“Wise Sibilla,” the “Queen of the Fairies,” and so forth. She is a deity at times“surrounded byanimals, intent on teaching her followers ‘the virtues of the earth.’”

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Testimonies indicate thatmen and women, but above all, women, would ritually meet with her in shamanic trance,usually atnight. One group, the benandanti of the Friuli, fought during such episodes againstmalevolent“witches” who threatened the fertility of the fields. Sometimes shapeshifting into animalsorinsects, other times riding on animals’ backs, they would end their journey by joining anotherworldly “procession of the dead.”

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