Colobraro: Italy’s Cursed Town

How would you like to experience a town so feared some people refuse to speak its name? Introducing Colobraro, a village in Southern Italy that overlooks the Sinni River, and is thought to be Europe’s most cursed town.

Italians believe Colobraro was placed under a cursed in the early 20th century. The story goes a lawyer named Biagio Virgilio, while arguing in court, declared if he told a lie the chandelier would fall. Moments later, the chandelier did come crashing to the ground. Locals believe the moment was a jinx, and even mentioning his name is now an omen. Shortly after, a team of researches arrived in town seeking the aid of a local woman known as La Cattre. The woman cursed them, and, since then, visitors and locals in town have routinely fallen victim to strange accidents. The village is thought to be a witch’s lair, with many of La Cattre’s descendants still residing there.

Over the last 100 years, Colobraro has seen more than its fair share of freak accidents. Improbable landslides, an unusually high rate of car accidents and babies born with extra organs became commonplace. The population of the town plummeted from 5,000 to 1,500.

Colobraro doesn’t look like something out of a horror movie. In fact, the tiny town of only 1,500 inhabitants is quite quaint. Cobblestone streets are lined with white-painted houses with terracotta roofs, while the surrounding valley is shrouded in olive groves. So is the curse real? No one really knows for sure, but visiting is the only way to see for yourself!