Uncover the real history behind the Sea Witches of Positano
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
While yet I speak the winged galley flies,
And lo! the Siren shores like mists arise;
Sunk were at once the winds; the air above
And waves below at once forgot to move;
Some demon calmed the air and smoothed the deep,
Hush'd the loud winds, and charmed the waves to sleep.
Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Odyssey, Book XII
Uncover the real history behind the Sea Witches of Positano
I love a novel that entices me to learn more about the history behind the story!
In Sarah Penner's, The Amalfi Curse, the sun-drenched cliffs of Positano hide a secret: a lineage of sea witches, or streghe, descended from the legendary Sirens. The streghe use their magic to command the Tyrrhenian Sea to encourage good fishing and calm waters, and to protect from storms and pirates. It's a captivating blend of magic and history that draws readers in. But as I dug deeper into my research for my review, I discovered that the legend of the 'Sea Witches of Positano' isn't just a fictional invention. From ancient folklore to whispered local superstitions, the genuine history of the Amalfi Coast is far stranger and more fascinating than any novel. Here, we separate the myth from the reality to uncover the true women behind the curse.
Let’s start at the start: The Sirens. These creatures are mythical sea-nymphs who lured sailors to their death with their bewitching songs. Originally the nymphs were hand-maids to Persephone, but after her kidnapping, her mother, Demeter, gave the nymphs the bodies of birds to aid in the search.
At this point in their mythology, they were depicted as birds with the heads, and sometimes the torso, of women. In some art from the time, are seen with bird legs only.
You may know them best from Homer’s, Odyssey. In this tale, the hero Odysseus was sailing past the island home of the Sirens. On advice from Circe, our adventurous hero stuffed his ears with wax and tied himself to the mast to avoid hearing the irresistible song of the bird-women and being lured to his death.
Later, these creatures were described as mermaids. Most stories place them within a stone’s throw (or a fish’s leap) from Positano and the Amalfi Coast. I cannot find any evidence of them having had children. So, this makes a brilliant point to add in some fantasy elements. After all, just because there’s no evidence doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. This is mythology, not historical fact; plenty of room to be creative with lineage.
The story isn’t about The Sirens though; it’s about witches, and any deep dive into stories of witches draws in the horrifying and tragic period of the Inquisitions across Europe. From the late 1300s to 1750 (give or take a year or two), some 100,000 people were accused of witchcraft. Approximately 80% of the people charged were women. Pope Paul III created the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (The Inquisition for short) in the mid-1500s. The vague net of speaking against the Christian faith pulled in anyone different or vulnerable, people blamed for all sorts of things, and people who swayed others away from the teachings of the Catholic Church.
While up to 33,000 witchcraft trials took place in Italy, few ended in capital punishment. Such punishment could be anything from being burned at the stake to hanging. Gruesome and entirely keeping with the need for secrecy as outlined in The Amalfi Curse.
Much of the written history of Italian witchcraft comes from Benevento, about two hours inland from Positano. Benevento, particular during the time of the Inquisition, was considered the centre of Italian witchcraft after a woman Matteuccia di Francesco, "confesses that she spreads a cream on herself and chants to be sent to the walnut tree of Benevento", at her trial.
Folklore talks about it on a much wider scale and includes kitchen hearth traditions and healing practices, as well as protections, wishes, and wards against evil.
While the term “Strega del Mare” (sea-hag) exists in folklore, I haven’t found a specific legend related to Italian sea witches other than stories of women flying to the ocean, using “sea charms”, and conversing with sea spirits. And, of course, scared men using protection charms and other wards against dark magic and the vagaries of the ocean.
I did find a 17th-century story from Naples of the red-haired “Witch of Port’Alba” which includes the calming of lost souls that screamed from the depths of Vesuvius. I wouldn’t be surprised if this story is part of the inspiration for The Amalfi Curse.
Beautiful red-haired streghe
Vesuvius - threat of an eruption and screams/cold air coming up from the ocean floor.
Sicilian folklorist, Guiseppe Pitre (1841 to 1916), and micro-historian, Carlo Ginzburg (born 1938) each researched and recorded Italian witchcraft stories. Pitre documented spells and the like from local stories while Ginzburg scrolled through the Inquisition records for evidence of witchcraft and people accused.
Pitre recorded hundreds of tales. English translations are available (“Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales translated by Jack Zipes and Joseph Russ”). Following is an English translation of a reconstructed spell from Vol 13: Preghiere, Canti, e Magie of his Biblioteca delle Tradizioni Poplar sicilianeis:
The Sea Song
“Oh Sea, great Sea,
Hear my words!
By the salt and the foam,
By the pale light of the moon,
I bind you, I call you:
Calm your winds,
Still your waves!
Bring back the boats safe,
Protect the fishermen,
And restore health to the suffering.
May your deep waters keep us safe,
And our catch be plentiful.”
To drag myself out of this deep dive, I headed over to the Amalfi Coast via several tourism sites to see what they had to say about the region’s connection with Sirens and Streghe. Li Galli, the diving site Haven Ambrose is exploring in The Amalfi Curse, was indeed home to the Sirens. Amalficruises.com talks about the “Jagare of Conca dei Marini”, mysterious women who possess magical power and gathered at night to perform rituals and cast spells. Cona dei Marini is only a 30 to 40-minute drive from Positano.
Sarah Penner has combined folklore, mythology, and history to bring us a new story set in a region where all three are deeply ingrained. Each side of her dual narrative weaves in and out of local legend, presenting vibrant descriptions of the power of the sea and of the heart. The Amalfi Curse acts as a stepping stone to exploring the history and atmospheric coastal landscape. Themes of female power and the struggle for independence, courage and resilience, grief and loss thread through the story, giving it a welcome depth that counters the occasional lack of pacing. As is often the case, I wish this novel were longer, more detailed, and gave more story about the side characters. Such wishes are hallmarks of a great novel.
Sources for "Uncover the real history behind the Sea Witches of Positano"
Myth and Legend
Bone and Sickle – Witchcraft in Southern Italy
Circles and Shadows – The Origins of Sea Witchcraft
Djinis, Elizabeth - Smithsonian Magazine: How this Italian town came to be known as the city of witches
Encyclopedia Britannica: Siren Greek Mythology Image: Odysseus and the Sirens
Project Gutenberg, 2024: Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Alexander Pope.
Prudent, Carmine – Amalfi Cruises article: Melodies and Mysteries: The Legends of the Sirens of the Amalfi Coast
Theoi Project – Seirenes
World Atlas - Tyrrhenian Sea information
Ginbzburg and Pitre
Disclaimer re reconstructed spell "The Sea Song". While the work the spell is from exists, I don’t read Italian and I couldn’t gain access to the English translation mentioned. This translation comes from a search and assistance requested from a private Generative AI Assistant (Lumo). I found the book independently of Lumo as well as the names of authors and translators mentioned in the article. If you’re interested, you can find it on Google Books. If you happen to have a copy and can provide the translation or accurate reference to it, send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.
Carlo Ginzburg on Wikipedia
Saada, Emmanuelle interview (The Italian Academy): Carlo Ginzburg on his Life’s Work and the Writing of History (Youtube)
Guiseppe Pitre on Wikipedia
Ferraro, Eveljn – Taylor & Francis Online article: ‘La tradizione è come il mare’: Giuseppe Pitrè’s Transnational Approach to Folk and Fairy Tales in the New Italy
Pitrè, Giuseppe - Internet Archive: Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari siciliane
Zipes, Jack – JStor article: The Indomitable Giuseppe Pitrè
Zipes, Jack and Russ, Joseph – Google Books: Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales translated by Jack Zipes and Joseph Russ
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