Villa de Vecchi: Italy’s Haunted Ghost Mansion
The abandoned Villa de Vecchi has several nicknames, The Red House, The Ghost Mansion, and The House of Witches.
Legend has it a horrific tragedy in 1862 led to becoming a hotbed for evil to flourish and later, brought an infamous occultist to its halls who filled it with spirits. But how much of the legend is actually true?
The Legend of Villa de Vecchi
Born in 1816 Milan, Felix de Vecchi developed a love for travel and painting early in his life. By the time he was 30 he had traveled to several countries around Asia, Africa, and Western Europe and drew much of his artistic influence from the sights, architecture, and people.
Though he was a renowned artist by the late 1840s, he became a decorated hero for his duties as a captain of the National Guard in the “Five Days of Milan”, an uprising against Austrian rule in 1848. This event was later instrumental in starting the First Italian War of Independence.
In 1854 Felix De Vecchi commissioned architect Alessandro Sidoli, to build his family’s new vacation home in the mountainous region of Cortenova. The Villa de Vecchi was to reflect some of the architecture that Felix had witnessed in his late 20s and 30s, as well as, contain some of the amenities that, at the time, were only seen by the rich.
But before some of those wonders were built, like a top-floor observatory, Alessandro Sidoli passed away in 1857. Today some say this should have been seen as a warning by Felix for the evil he had built his house upon.
The Red House
Despite Sidoli’s death in 1857, most of the 5 story mansion had already been built. The Red House, as it was nicknamed due to the red sandstone used in its construction, contained a state-of-the-art heating system with heated pipes throughout the floors, a pulley system wherein food and other items could be lifted to other doors, and a large pressurized fountain.
Felix did not seek out another architect to complete the work and was seemingly happy with the work that had already been done. For the next few years, Felix and his family, which included his wife, Carolina Franchetti de Ponte, and his daughter Beatrice, spent their summers in the lavish mansion.
But in 1862, tragedy struck. That year, Felix left his wife and daughter at the mansion as he continued to help the National Guard. After several weeks he returned and found Carolina brutally murdered with her head horrifically beaten in. Though he was in shock over his wife’s murder, Felix quickly realized Beatrice was missing.
Felix and others launched a search into the surrounding forests looking for any sign of Beatrice but no one could find any sign of her whereabouts. Weeks passed and the search party lost hope but Felix continued his search through all hours of the night.
After months of searching and being unable to come to terms with losing his family, Felix returned to the Villa and killed himself.
The Villa de Vecchi was left to his brother Biagio who neglected to care for the villa beginning its long deterioration. As the years went on many began to whisper that the ghosts of Carolina still lingered in the halls, some claimed that they could hear her playing the piano on the first floor as she had done many times before during her life.
Some say her ghostly presence intrigued one of the world's most influential occultists in the 1920s. A man who was described as the “wickedest man to ever live”; Aleister Crowley.
Allister Crowley’s House of Witches
In the 20th century, one of the most widely known and influential occultists was Aleister Crowley who was rumored to practice black magic, perform animal and human sacrifices, and helped in publishing The Lesser Keys of Solomon the King; a book of spells and curses.
In the 1920s it’s said that during his time in Italy, Crowley would often make trips to the Villa de Vecchi as he was drawn to the location and the spirit that supposedly haunted the home.
After performing several rituals the home become flooded with the spirits of those who had died in the area.
In the years following Crowley’s visits, many of his followers broke into the home and performed their own rituals and spells with some saying, a few had opened a doorway into hell.
Since then, those who visit the mansion have claimed to see spirits wandering the halls or hear the sounds of a piano playing on the first floor.
Today these legends have contributed to the Villa’s many nicknames, The Ghost Mansion and The House of Witches being just two, but did any of these legends actually happen?
Did it Happen?
After researching Felix de Vecchi’s life and the life of his daughter, I can say with absolute certainty that the legend that gave birth to the Ghost Mansion did not happen.
De Vecchi’s Family
While Felix de Vecchi did commission Alessandro Sidoli to build the Villa de Vecchi (which actually happened in 1853), the Villa was not for Felix’s wife and daughter as a vacation home. Felix and his wife, Carolina Franchetti di Ponte, actually had two children, Giusseppe born in 1846, and Beatrice in 1850. On top of this Carolina died on February 7th, 1851 years before the mansion was thought of.
In 2013, Alice Bitto at the University of Milan Bicocca wrote her Master’s Thesis entitled Felice de Vecchi: Uno Sguardo Dimenticato Sull’oriente (Felix de Vecchi: A Forgotten Look at the East) which includes possibly the only full biography on Felix de Vecchi’s life.
From her work, we know that Carolina died from an unknown disease in 1851 after caring for her dying mother for several months in 1850 and was not murdered in 1862. We also know Felix never remarried therefore there could not have been a “wife” murdered in the villa.
We also know from Alice Bitto’s work, that Felix’s daughter never went missing and therefore was not the cause of his death. Felix had long been suffering from liver disorders for at least a decade before his death. While he did die in 1862, it’s believed his death was attributed to a liver disorder. It’s also important to note that Felix did not die at the Villa, instead he died in Milan.
As for Beatrice based on a Yearbook of Italian Nobility published in 1895, we know that Beatrice married renowned historian Antonio Cavagna Sangiuliani in 1867. The two stayed married until 1885. This was confirmed in Sangiuliani’s biography written after his death in 1913 and by letters found archived at the library of the University of Illinois.
Aleister Crowley
The rumors of Aleister Crowley’s visits to the Villa de Vecchi are a bit more difficult to disprove as between 1920 to 1923 Crowley did spend time in Italy but there are no records of him spending time at the Villa.
Crowley’s time in Italy was in Sicily creating the Abbey of Thelema, a commune that focused on teaching magic and living life based on free will. Unsurprisingly there were rumors of rituals, sacrifices, and angel/demon summoning with one former member blaming the drinking of cat blood for the death of her husband.
April 13th, 1934, Page 1 of the Evening Chronicle Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England
Though that assertion has been debated by Crowley and others with the death likely linked to drinking tainted water, these sorts of accusations led to the government issuing a deportation letter to Aleister Crowley.
As the Abbey of Thelema was located 916 miles (1475 km) from the Villa de Vecchi, it seems hard to believe Aleister would have taken a long journey during the three years he was running his commune, but it is possible.
Despite this many of his followers or people who heard the rumors have visited and broken into the Villa. Many believe Aleister did summon spirits there and those spirits remain wandering the halls or playing the now ripped-apart piano.
Plenty of articles online still perpetuate these legends including that of the death of Felix de Vecchi’s family and because of the current state of the Villa, it’s not hard to believe evil lives there.
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