Fighting Magic With Magic in Italy: The Good Walkers

Fighting Magic With Magic in Italy: The Good Walkers

Stefano Zocchi

Let’s take a look at the incredible story of the Benandanti, a surprising third party in the fight of good versus evil in Medieval Italy, that not even the Holy Inquisition could completely make sense of.

It turned out the man wasn’t even remotely trying to hide his identity. Baffled, Father Bartolomeo summoned him, and the man… well, the man confirmed his story, adding details regarding the nature of the curse and the gatherings he attends regularly, along with other people and several kinds of animals. Brought in front of the Holy Inquisition’s vicar, he not only he kept on professing his Pagan lifestyle, but offered the two to bring them along at the next meeting.

We don’t know whether they accepted or not. What we do know is that – and this is all archived – Father Bartolomeo had come to the conclusion that there is white magic that extends beyond the realms of the Catholic Church – and that the ones practicing it aren’t enemies, but friends. The priest had apparently struck some kind of friendship with the man, inviting him to his house for a few conversations. He learned that the common folk referred to his kind as “Benandanti,” the “Good Walkers,” and that there were quite a significant number of them, all dedicated to fighting against witches.