Strega, Stregheria or La Vecchia Religione...sans Grimassi

[Rós]

Hi All,

I've been looking for resources on Stregheria due to some hints from family members that my great grandmother practiced some aspects of "the old Religion." Genealogy research also points to some very interesting connections to families that were supposedly involved in the tradition, so it has felt more and more relevant for me to look into.

I've read Aradia or the Gospel of Witches and the Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition by Leland. After looking through some posts here it seems that Raven Grimassi isn't a reliable source but his work permeates the entire field of study from what I can find. In fact, the Wikipedia page for Stregheria is, like, 80% devoted to Grimassi, he's registered Stregheria.com and he admins the online groups I can find.

Unfortunately, my Italian is incredibly rudimentary so I'm hoping to find English sources. I'm interested in anything you might suggest - books, academic articles, pop culture articles.

Any recommendations?

[Jenett]

Unfortunately, my Italian is incredibly rudimentary so I'm hoping to find English sources. I'm interested in anything you might suggest - books, academic articles, pop culture articles.

Any recommendations?

One of the big things that people often forget when talking about Stregheria (and I think is at the root of a lot of the Grimassi material problems) is that the unification of Italy is tremendously recent by historical standards (the middle of the 19th century!)

So one of the best things you can do to get at a more historical practice is to figure out exactly where you're interested in investigating, and then look at that material more closely - Tuscany is not the same as Campania is not the same as Lombardy or Piedmont.

If you're looking at northeast Italy, Carlo Ginzburg's The Night Battles and Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath are must reads (and maybe in general, because he does a good job at explaining the regional differences overall.)

[MagickalMea]

Hi All,

I've been looking for resources on Stregheria due to some hints from family members that my great grandmother practiced some aspects of "the old Religion." Genealogy research also points to some very interesting connections to families that were supposedly involved in the tradition, so it has felt more and more relevant for me to look into.

I've read Aradia or the Gospel of Witches and the Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition by Leland. After looking through some posts here it seems that Raven Grimassi isn't a reliable source but his work permeates the entire field of study from what I can find. In fact, the Wikipedia page for Stregheria is, like, 80% devoted to Grimassi, he's registered Stregheria.com and he admins the online groups I can find.

Unfortunately, my Italian is incredibly rudimentary so I'm hoping to find English sources. I'm interested in anything you might suggest - books, academic articles, pop culture articles.

Any recommendations?

I am an Italian hereditary, I can give you my personal opinion on the Gospel of the Witches which I first read over 30 years and was completely tickled by it as a teenager but I fear I would digress too much  . Also I have not read one book from Grimassi on it that spoke to me. And I read them all....because when you become an old hag like me that's what you do.

Grimassi, and I absolutely mean no negative connotation to Wicca, wrote about Wicca and switched some stuff around to create what he refers to Stregheria. It's truly disappointing to say the least.

What we practiced and what other Italian American families practiced was never referred to as that, it is not a common term and prior to him rarely shows up in any historical texts regarding the topic of Italian Witchcraft.

I did just read Italian Folk Magic by Mary-Grace Fahrun. I really enjoyed it, related to a large majority of it and found it much more genuine than Grimassi's works on the subject. It has strong Catholic connotations that I see some reviews complaining about but hey that's what it is. The Catholic church was crushing through Europe, burning witches left and right, just as Hoodoo, Voodoo and Santeria mixed in Christianity with their teachings to form practices that's what the Italian witches had to do to survive.
Many moons ago, I am going back to the 90's there was a site Fabrisia's Boschetto. If you can find anything linking to that because I believe her site is no longer maintained and I think she and Grimassi did not see eye to eye. She was/is LEGIT.

I would suggest searching for Italian Folk Magic(k) and Benedicaria  ( Catholic Italian Folk Magick that may or may not strike a cord with you ) you might find something under Italian cunning folk.
It's truly an elusive subject.
Good luck - I am happy to answer any questions you might have too!

[Mellee]

Many moons ago, I am going back to the 90's there was a site Fabrisia's Boschetto. If you can find anything linking to that because I believe her site is no longer maintained and I think she and Grimassi did not see eye to eye. She was/is LEGIT.

I remember that site! Here's the Wayback Machine's archive from 2005: https://web.archive.org/web/20050205091925/http://fabrisia.com/