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The Ghost Of Girolamo Riario
Ivo Ragazzini
The book is a historical novel born from a fact that really happened in 2010 in Italy, when some people told in the chronicles of local newspapers, that they saw a ghost in the town hall of Forlì, who was walking around with part of his head smashed, complaining. They also recounted the strangeness of having seen him hanging outside the wall of that building, near a window on the first floor, as if he was dancing suspended in thin air. But who was that ghost? What was he doing in that place? Why was his head bashed in? Who did he look like that? What was he complaining about? This book tells the story of a man called Girolamo Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, who was murdered over five centuries ago in the city of Forli, but few or no one seems to remember him.
Sometimes the past comes back.
This is an italian historical novel born from a fact really happened in 2010 in Forlì, north Italy, when some people told in the local chronicles, they saw a ghost in the old town hall, who was walking around with part of his head smashed, complaining about something.
This book tells the story of a man called Girolamo Riario, first husband of Caterina Sforza, who was murdered over five centuries ago in the city of Forli for an aftermath with the Pazzi’s conspiracy, and seems resurge from the past but no one seems to remember it.
Get ready to discover secrets of the Italian Renaissance that you didn't even suspect.
The Ghost Of Girolamo Riario
Italian historical novel
Ivo Ragazzini
Original title: Il Fantasma di Girolamo Riario
Translated by: Fatima Pretta
An aftermath with the Pazzi’s conspiracy that continues to resurge from history
Get ready to discover secrets of the Italian Renaissance that you didn't even suspect
The Ghost Of Girolamo Riario
Copyright © 2012 Ivo Ragazzini
First edition: 2012
English edition: September 2020
Translator: Fatima Pretta
Publisher: Tektime – www.traduzionelibri.it
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e-mail: ragazzini.ivo@gmail.com (mailto:ragazzini.ivo@gmail.com)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, including by any mechanical or electronic system, without the written permission of the editor, except for brief passages taken for the purposes of review.
Preface
This is the story of someone called Girolamo Riario, nephew or perhaps illegitimate son of Pope Sixtus IV, who ruled and was murdered over five centuries ago in the city of Forlì, but which few or none seem to remember anymore.
So this story is about a conspiracy that happened five centuries ago and since then, even if a lot has changed, it seems that sometimes the story keeps popping up.
Contrary to what one might think, this is not a new story, but an old story forgotten by everyone, which every now and then resurfaces and repeats itself over time.
It seems that, for some mysterious reason, these facts fluctuate and float over time as something that does not want to be forgotten.
Now, a question to ask to try to understand things like this could be:
Why does something that happened many centuries ago continue to fluctuate over time?
Or:
Why does something seem unwilling to cease and go beyond its time?
Well, there may be a couple of reasons for understanding these things.
One is that there are a lot of behind the scenes and things not well inspected on those facts.
And the other is that unclear and incomplete things seem to go on long and come back to the surface in time.
Which of the two will be the truth?
It could be a little one and a little the other and you will find out for yourself as you read the rest of this story.
Good discovery.
The author
Introduction
At the end of August 2010 a person, while under the town hall of Forlì, saw the shadow of a figure dancing on the external walls near a window on the first floor of that building.
Since it was evening, but it was still sunny, he believed it was a reflection on the glass and did not give it much importance.
But a few days later he saw that shadow moan with a deep cut in the head go out of a room in the city hall and run away into the corridor.
Later someone else told not only that he had seen the same shadow but also had heard it speak.
The testimonies said they saw a man with a part of his head split or missing telling and complaining about wanting to defend his lady in danger and asking for revenge against someone who had betrayed him.
Some details of these sightings were then told on January 31, 2011, on the front page in the local chronicles of Forlì and, to tell the truth, there were other people who trusted to have seen him even if they wanted to remain anonymous.
At a first glance some thought that it was Jacopo Feo, the second husband of Caterina Sforza, but according to the author, it was an old story forgotten by everyone's memory which dated back to 1488, when Riario was assassinated in the palace town of Forlì by three men who stabbed him on the first floor and then threw him in the square below, a story that many historians seem to have forgotten or put aside for some reason.
But what is known about Riario today?
Shortly. Currently it is known that an alleged image of him has remained, or rather has been saved in the Vatican, due to the fact that it was portrayed alongside his uncle, Pope Sixtus IV, by the painter from Forlì, Melozzo degli Ambrogi.
And even in Forlì, where he governed and was assassinated, almost nothing remains of him and although at the time he was the general commander of the pontifical army, very few still know today who was really this man, why he was assassinated and who were the real instigators.
Furthermore, as you will see later, many characters and details of this story were forgotten and buried under a kind of damnatio memoriae
, that is condemned to be forgotten by people's and historical memory.
But memories cannot be completely erased and, as soon as you look at them well, they somehow seem to resurface and reaffirm their presence as if they were protesting that they had been put aside for too long.
And one could speculate that such a hunger for historical memory could create forgotten things that persist and resurface over time which can also be called ghosts of the past if you prefer.
Written quickly and fluently, halfway between essay and narration, this historical tale perhaps reveals for the first time in a frank and direct way many unthinkable facts, places and background, which happened to a person called Girolamo Riario, first husband of Caterina Sforza and nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, assassinated over 500 years ago by a conspiracy in the town hall of Forlì.
It also explains events never observed or completely forgotten for a long time which hardly anyone remembered anymore.
Here is a list of some things you will discover in this book.
Was a book of prophecy written that announced Riario's death?
Who Wrote It? On whose behalf?
Why did the ghost have his head split?
Who were the real instigators of the killers of Riario?
What had Riario done to end up murdered?
Did Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano de 'Medici, murdered ten years earlier in Florence, have anything to do with this story?
Was a company of hired assassins created to assassinate him? From who?
Why did Riario enter in church only surrounded by several guards?
What the killers of Riario do after killing him?
Is a true or a false story that Caterina Sforza would show her sex shameless from the stands of the fortress of Forlì, when her enemies asked him to surrender? What did she do instead?
And much more that you will discover and understand for yourself while reading.
So I wish you a good read and a good rediscovery of this completely forgotten historical event.
And, if after reading this book, someone accidentally encounters the ghost again, I'm sure he will understand it much better than before.
Forlì, autumn of 2010... the ghost appears
In a room not far from the historic city center, a researcher of biomagnetic phenomena, or a ghost catcher if you prefer and some witnesses of mysterious facts and presences, are interviewed by the researcher himself
“Have you seen the ghost yet, ma'am?” asked the researcher, while interviewing a lady who wished to remain anonymous.
“Yes. It looks better in the evening or maybe you see better in that hour”, replied the lady.
“Have you seen it several times?”
“Yes”, said the woman again.
“Where is he when you see him?”
“In the municipal building of Forlì. Once I saw it outside Piazza Saffi
, it was suspended outside the wall, near a window on the first floor of the municipal building”, replied the lady.
“You mean he was standing on a window sill or on a ledge of the wall?” the researcher demanded for clarification.
“No. It was outside the wall and seemed to hang in the thin air”.
“Maybe it was suspended on an ancient framework that is now no longer in that wall?” commented the researcher.
“I do not know this”.
“I understand you lady. What did he do outside the wall?” continued the researcher.
“Nothing. It just seemed to dance near a window”, replied the woman.
“Which window?”
“It was the third window of the town hall, counting from the right”, replied the woman”.
“What was the ghost like?”
“Grey, a grey shadow and his head was open and split on one side, as if he were missing or they had cut off part of his head”.
“Wow. A good business card for introduce himself to someone. I guess you were at the least surprised lady?”
“Yes, surprised. You said well”.
“Okay lady. Have you seen it again and more?”
“Yes, sometimes he is in the corridor, another time he was in a larger adjoining room”.
“Do you see it when it's dark or there is little light?” the researcher asked more curious.
“No. I always saw it in the evening but never when it's completely dark”.
“All right, lady. What else have you seen about it?”
“I heard him say and moan something”.
“What did he say?”
“I didn't understand, his voice was weak and dimmering, and as well was his image”, explained the woman.
“Okay lady. What else have you seen?”
