There is a ghost wandering around Milan, precisely in the Monastery of Santa Radegonda. It is about Bernardine Visconti, whose spirit haunts the city after a dramatically sad life. In fact, the Milanese cloister hides a true tragedy of love.
The ghost of Bernardina Visconti
Il monastery of Santa Radegonda a Milano Unfortunately today it is a ruined place, where numerous witnesses declare that they have seen the desperate ghost of the young Bernardina Visconti. Miserably left to die centuries ago, it still wanders without finding peace. The monastery, together with the church of the same name, was a Benedictine place of worship. A complex suppressed and partially demolished in 1781, in order to make room for the current Via Santa Radegonda. A place of worship seriously damaged by the imperial troops of Barbarossa in 1162. As compensation, the monastery received a house and land, owned by the bishop Galdino della Sala. A grandiose complex enriched by four cloisters.
It is in what remains of this sacred place that all witnesses tell the same version. You can see a figure wandering around the petite figure wrapped in a dark cloak. Her face is very pale and her hair is brown. The ghost prefers the freezing winter nights to make appearances. Those who have seen her have also heard her suffering weeping. A heartbreaking lament, well conceivable if you know the story that led her to death.
History
The minutes drawn up by the Visconti notaries tell a terrifying story, capable of making anyone shiver. The architect of the death of the young Bernardina, who died more than 600 years ago, was her father, Bernabo Visconti, lord of Milan from 1350 to 1385. The man famously had a mistress, Giovannola Montebretto. His wife Beatrice knew everything, as well as the whole city or almost. From this clandestine relationship Bernarda was born. The little girl was allowed access to the palace and everyone knew who she was.
The chronicles tell us how her father never treated her as a "bastard", but as his legitimate offspring. For this reason he also planned a very respectable wedding on paper for her. Bernarda's husband would have been Giovanni Suardi, a very rich noble knight from Bergamo. A man much older than her, totally unknown to the young woman, who nine years later was arrested for treason by her husband.
The trial began in January 1376. The key witness was Giovannolo Da Vedano, one of Bernabò's relatives, who told of having seen Bernarda in a room of the Rocchetta of Porta Romana in intimate attitudes with a young man named Antoniolo Zotta. Gabriele Freganeschi, guardian of the rocchetta, was also listened to, as well as others. Everyone agrees on the guilt of Bernardina Visconti. She and her lover were put in chains. She was led into the dungeons of the Rocchetta di Porta Nuova. The jailers stripped her naked in the open, in the cold of January, throwing buckets of cold water to "put out the boiling spirits". Antonio was killed, hanged. The act itself was passable as a simple fine, since it was not a rape. Witnesses said they saw him trafficking in a treasure chest of the sovereign.
For Bernardina the gallows was planned but she was still the daughter of Bernabò, who was asked about the matter. A single word from him would have granted her grace. But every tear and request for clemency is useless. She had to pay with her life but in a slow and painful way. She was thrown into her cell and left to bread and water, until her strength was goodbye. It lasted nine months and she was found dead on 4 October 1376. She was buried in great secrecy in the church of San Giacomo, near Porta Nuova. Since then, however, the sightings of the girl took place repeatedly in various cities. The father was haunted by the ghost of his daughter until his death. Bernardina Visconti thus became the protagonist of one of the most famous black legends of the city.
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