Emanuele Stefanori & Michela Guida, translated into English by Ruth Stephens
Chapter 4 – Stories And Mysteries
Paolo has just had the worst shower he has ever taken in his life. “I really must tell the owner of the house that there’s no hot water,” he thinks while drying himself afterwards.
He leaves the house to look for a good restaurant, that is, one that doesn’t display the menu in every language! He walks for some time before he spots a small place that looks promising. There are not many people inside and the aroma from the kitchen is inviting.
He spends the next couple of hours enjoying the spaghetti alle vongole, fried fish and very cold white wine. Satisfied by his meal and while slowly sipping a limoncello, he notices that the eyes of the people still sitting at the other tables are all on him.
“Tourist?” asks a man with a moustache sitting on his right.
“No, I’m here to work, actually,” replies Paolo, smiling, “even right now, here.”
“Ah! So what do you do? Are you a restaurant critic?”
Finally, thinks Paolo, they’ve found an excuse to make conversation with ‘the stranger.’
“Almost,” he replies,” I’m writing a guide to the area. Not only the well-known attractions but also the more hidden places, the restaurants not frequented by tourists, the stories, the legends, the curiosities…”
“Then you’re in the right place,” says the restaurant owner, pouring him another glass of limoncello, “and this is on the house.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind.”
“You said you were looking for stories, curiosities – well there’s an interesting place right here, nearby…”
“A haunted house!” put in the moustachioed man’s wife.
“Really?” asks Paolo, “ where would that be?”
“Did you notice that old villa that looks abandoned?” continues the woman “The one at the entrance to the village, standing in its own grounds with palm trees in the garden…”
“Yes, that’s where I’m staying.”
At this, everyone falls silent, looking at him a little suspiciously. The restaurant owner pulls up a chair and sits down next to him.
“Have you….have you seen him?” he almost whispers in Paolo’s ear.
“Who, what?” asks the young man, puzzled.
“The ghost!”
“What ghost? Who are you talking about?”
“The spirit of Pasquale Letiene!” the woman shouts excitedly.
Paolo is dumbfounded. Everyone is looking at him differently now.
“I must tell you, dear boy, that that house has a sad story behind it,” the restaurant owner explains.
“In the nineteen fifties the village doctor, Pasquale Letiene, lived there with his beautiful young wife, Maddalena, a primary school teacher.
He was a very jealous man, because he was much older than her and he suspected her of being unfaithful to him. One dreadful afternoon the doctor came home earlier than usual, went up to the bedroom and found his wife in bed with another man!
In a fury, he went to the kitchen, found a knife and returned to the bedroom and killed the two lovers in cold blood. Then, overwhelmed by the pain and the shame of what he had done, he went to the bathroom and killed himself.
From that day on, the ghost of Pasquale Letiene has roamed the house, doomed to repeat his horrible act, forever!”
“Wow! What a story!” exclaims Paolo, smiling..
“My dear boy, it’s no laughing matter,” the proprietor tells him sternly
“You might think we are all mad but we aren’t. This is more than just a silly legend. The ghost really exists. Many people have seen it and have run screaming from that house. Trust us, there’s still time to pack your bags and leave there!”