Imagine a vessel in danger of foundering during a stormy night on the coast of the Gulf of Trieste, in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. An admiral who took refuge with his crew in a bay protected by a high cliff, was so fascinated by the unspoilt beauty of the place that he decided to build a castle there. He was the young Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg, brother-in-law of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Sissi. It is not known whether this is a legend or not, but certainly the Castle of Miramare, with its twenty hectares of parkland overlooking the Adriatic Sea, in its immense rooms and luxuriant gardens, holds tragic mysteries and legends of ghosts that have been handed down for almost two centuries.
Built between 1856 and 1860, it takes its name from the Spanish words Mira El Mar (meaning ‘look at the sea’) and became the home of Maximilian and his wife Charlotte of Belgium. With its white walls and crenelated tower perched on the edge of the cliff, it seems to have been born out of a romantic dream, but the stories told make it the perfect setting for a Gothic fairy tale.
Issue 13
FOUND FOOTING
Viviana De Cecco is an Italian writer and translator. Her works can be found in Tint Journal Poets’ Choice, yovoice.org, ParABnormal Magazine, Pressfuls Digipress, Grim&Gilded, and The Polyglot Magazine. She writes short stories and photo essay of mysterious places for La Soglia Oscura.