Roccascalegna is a small town with about 1.400 inhabitants, situated in the province of Chieti, up in the hills running along the Sangro river. It is only 35 km away from the beautiful coastline with iconic perched fishing huts, so called Trabocchi, over the Adriatic sea.

The hamlet is very picturesque, characterized by the stunning Medieval castle built on a rock with the wonderful backdrop of the awesome Majella mountains of Abruzzo. The castle was restored in the 90's and today it is open for guided tours. The small town is perfectly preserved, lying on the spur of the mountain.

There are many legends but the most famous of all, is that of the Castle of Roccascalegna, which tells of the protagonist Corvo de Corvis and the edict of the “Jus Primae Noctis”, the Latin for the “Right of the first night”.

It seems that in 1646, the phantom Baron reintroduced this Medieval practice, which stated that every newly wed bride on the estate of Roccascalegna, was to spend the first wedding night with him and not with the husband. It is not known if a newly wed bride, or the husband dressed up as the bride, stabbed the Baron in the bridal suite and that whilst dying, left his bloody hand print on the tower rock, which was later to collapse in 1940.

Although they tried to wash the blood stain from the rock, it kept reappearing and to this very day, elderly people swear that they have seen the “hand of blood” even after the rock had collapsed.

The hamlet of Roccascalegna and its castle have been chosen by the film director Matteo Garrone as a location for one of the three episodes of his film “Il racconto dei racconti”,”A tale of tales”. It is the first film in English by the Italian director which was presented at the Cannes festival in 2015 and won seven David di Donatello awards.

Now let’s meet our clients, Sean and Susan, to find out what made them decide to purchase a house in Roccascalegna.