In an ancient castle (called the Malamorte), among the lush vines of Piedmont, in Belveglio d'Asti, history and legend are intertwined when it comes to the mysterious treasure of the Farnese.
Built between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, today it is known as the "Castle of Concerts", thanks to the commitment of the current owner, the musician Marlaena Kessick who, with the Ente Concerti Castello di Belveglio, organizes precious musical moments.
But in the first decades of the last century, in this imposing fortress resided a certain Hector Petrausch, Montenegrin count, who had bought and rebuilt it by merging the Art Nouveau style then in vogue with chivalrous architectural motifs.
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The count, once the owner of immense wealth, had fallen into disrepair because of expensive research, including séances, in the hope of finding an immense treasure that he was convinced was under his feet.
To tell the truth, his was not a visionary's belief because, during the restoration work, the count discovered that, under the castle, there were ruins of previous buildings very extensive and with numerous tunnels and underground, one of which had to lead to the banks of the Tiglione stream, another to the castle of Mombercelli and others still do not know where.
To look for him, as mentioned, the Montenegrin nobleman squandered an authentic fortune and, persecuted by creditors, in the mid-fifties, was forced to sell the castle.
It was bought by a wealthy herbalist, Giuseppe Barberis, who was also convinced of the actual presence of a treasure in the basement of the castle. He, however, relied on more concrete research methods: he recruited a Milanese engineer, Alessandro Porro, who presented himself at the castle with a pioneering model of metal detectors of his invention capable of identifying (and identifying it) an underground cave with gold inscriptions that tell a story at that time unpublished for history manuals.
The protagonist of the story - reported by some ancient texts and documents found at the manor - was Duke Matteo Maria Farnese and his wife Zeusa Ellenica.
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Farnese, of whom little was known, was the nephew of Paul III – who before becoming a priest and pope had three children – and illegitimate son (as indicated by his barred coat of arms) of Pier Luigi Farnese who was murdered in a conspiracy.
The emperor of that time was Charles V, but the duke did not want to submit to him and he embraced with his faithful squires in the castle of Belveglio.
The siege lasted three years, then, exhausted, after losing over two hundred soldiers in battle, instead of surrendering prisoners to the emperor, the duke and his wife went down into the basement and killed themselves by drinking pungitopo poison.
In the nearby dungeons used as chests and in the weapons room lie the skeletons of the soldiers who, faithful to the last, shared the fate of the duke. And the treasure? According to some writings, it was piled up in a cave adjacent to the burial ground, thrown at the bottom of a well in which there was a spiral staircase that was then demolished to prevent it from reaching the crypt. In any case, so far, the searches have not yielded results.
Research excavations were carried out for some time, even with locals, several gold coins were found, but the risk of subsidence in the tunnels advised to stop the activity.
Meanwhile, however, the land has made more than the gold of the Farnese: cultivated well, it has in fact produced the legendary vines of Asti.