Case file · Witch trials
The walnut tree of Benevento
Benevento's witches (janare) were said to meet under a great walnut tree by the Sabato river. The hagiography of St Barbatus says he cut down a tree sacred to the Lombards around 663, but the witches' tree was said to grow back.
663 CE · 41.13, 14.78 · status: legend
The account
By the 15th century the 'walnut of Benevento' was known across Italy: accused witches in Todi and elsewhere described flying there. The Strega liqueur and the town's witch museum keep the legend alive.
The sceptical view
The Lombards' tree rite was a pagan cult that Christian writers later recast as witchcraft.