Frozen in all eternity as a stone under the previous fort of Duino on the cliffs. It’s stated to be haunted by the Girl in White, the previous girl of the fort, thrown off the cliffs by her jealous husband. Now she returns to the fort to observe over her little one she left behind.
Lovers, if Angels might perceive them, may utter
unusual issues within the midnight air.
– Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies
Excessive above the Gulf of Trieste on a rugged cliffside stands the ruins of the previous Duino Fortress, a fortress of historical stones and whispered sorrows. In accordance with tales, this was as soon as a spot of druidic worship devoted to the Solar God. The oldest written doc that offers with the fortress of Duino dated 1139, constructed on the ruins of a Roman outpost, the interval wherein the dominion of the Tybein de Dewino, or Tybeiner who have been vassals of the patriarchs of Aquileia.
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The fort ruins we are able to see right now date again to the fort from 1389, when the Wallsee household commanded the development of a robust fortress. Over time, the Wallsee household disappeared and the fort, after having been used as a jail, grew to become the residence of the Luogar and Hofer.
Tales of the previous Duino Fortress and space have been immortalized by the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke in his Duino Elegies. Although its partitions have withstood centuries of storms, wars, and noble intrigues, one story lingers extra vividly than any written within the historical past books — the legend of the White Girl, a spirit trapped between grief and stone.
The Jealous Knight and the Locked Tower
Centuries in the past, in response to native lore, a strong and merciless knight lived within the fort together with his lovely younger spouse and their toddler son. Some sources give her the identify Esterina da Portole. This model was informed to Rainer Maria Rilke, who was a frequent visitor to Duino Fortress by his pricey good friend, Princess Marie of Thurn und Taxis.
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The knight was famend for his wrath and his greed — and his insufferable jealousy. He was at all times in a combat together with his enemies who plundered the village and his properties.
So hanging was his spouse’s magnificence that he refused to permit anybody else to see her and he was terrified that another noble would take her away. It was rumored that when he was away, they’d attempt to get her to run away with them. However each time a suitor got here, she rejected him, staying loyal to her husband, loving her captor regardless of all of it. Every time he left on army campaigns or diplomatic missions, he would lock her away in a tower on the sting of the cliff, the place no eyes however his personal might admire her.
The girl, although imprisoned, bore her destiny with quiet dignity. A mannequin of endurance and compassion, she spent her days tending to her little one, singing lullabies by way of the excessive home windows of her stone jail, gazing longingly on the sea under.
A Deadly Return and Divine Intervention
One fateful day, the knight returned from a protracted and grueling marketing campaign. Weary, paranoid, and possessed by a wild suspicion that his spouse had been untrue — regardless of her unwavering loyalty — he flew right into a match of uncontrollable rage. In his insanity, he dragged her to the sting of the cliff and hurled her from the tower. In some variations he deliberate all of it, lured her out to the cliffs and pushed her off.
However the sea by no means claimed her.
In accordance with legend, God took pity on the devoted girl, and earlier than her physique may very well be shattered on the rocks under, she was reworked into white stone — frozen mid-fall, her soul spared however not freed. Her grief was so nice, her maternal longing so highly effective, that at the same time as her physique grew to become rock, her spirit remained trapped, condemned to seek for her misplaced little one for all eternity.
The Wandering Ghost of Midnight
To at the present time, the locals of Duino whisper that at midnight, when the winds from the Adriatic stir the waves under the fort, the White Girl awakens, or La Dama Bianca di Duino as she is understood in Italy. Her stone kind detaches from the cliffside and takes on spectral life. It’s stated that she seems and disappears thrice within the night time. Cloaked in white, she wanders the halls of the previous Duino Fortress, her translucent determine looking each room, determined to seek out her toddler’s cradle.
Witnesses have described listening to mushy footsteps in empty rooms, the sound of a mom weeping, and even lullabies drifting by way of the corridors on moonlit nights. Others inform of a Roman candle that’s in a fort corridor each night time burns and crosses the salons till the doorways open by themselves.
The apparition by no means speaks, however her anguish is palpable. And simply earlier than daybreak, when the primary gentle touches the cliffs, the Girl in White walks again to her ledge, turns as soon as extra to stone, and resumes her everlasting vigil.
The Stone That Nonetheless Watches
Within the tales informed to Rilke, there may be one other model of how the rock was shaped. This model describes a younger princess named Duna, 13, who had “inexperienced eyes that appear like the ocean.” She fell in love with Rein, 15, a boy from a fishing village close to Duino Fortress. Her father, King Aquillio, opposed their romance, demanding that Rein sail into the ocean in a storm. Compelled to obey, Rein set out however by no means returned. Heartbroken, Duna went to the rocks under the fort to search for him, hoping he would come again. She stayed there so lengthy, embracing a big rock, that she finally turned to stone herself.
Vacationers who go to Duino Fortress right now can nonetheless see the White Girl’s Rock or the Rocca della Dama Bianca. It’s a hanging limestone outcrop that juts from the cliff simply beneath the fort’s partitions. From the ocean, the rock’s kind eerily resembles a robed girl mid-fall or mid-reach, her face lifted towards the fortress. Sailors and fishermen lengthy claimed the determine protected them from storms, whereas others say it’s greatest to not look too lengthy, lest the Girl’s sorrow observe you residence.
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References:
The White Girl Legend, Duino Fortress, Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia
