Rocca Sparvièra Castle: The Cursed Abandoned Castle Of The French Alps

 43°53'34.46"N 7°17'14.56"E

(from Tripadvisor)

    Dramatically positioned atop a hill, Rocca Sparvièra overlooks strategically the two surrounding valleys, while offering at the same time a great sight of the Provence's green hills. No wonder they chose this spot to arrange a castle! However, the fortress is now in ruins following a span of centuries which felt like hell; one horror after another led to its mass destruction and final abandonment in the 18th century. The origins of these series of misfortunes are uncertain and probably just coincidental, however, a local legend tries to explain it in a rather bloodthirsty and macabre way. Its truthfulness is evidently very doubted, even if it does mix the pure myth with proved history... Welcome to the cursed Rocca Sparvièra or "Rock of the Hawks".

 

   Around December of 1325, today's main character was born. She was Queen Joanna I of Naples, who would enter history as a beautiful but notorious woman. During her birth, the Kingdom of Naples was one of the many little chunks of land Italy was fragmented into, and had no important geopolitical power. However, her grandfather Robert, who was aptly nicknamed "the Wise", wanted to ally with Hungary as it had a big army at the moment. For that, he used Joanna. When she was only 7 years old, the young girl was married to Andrew, the younger son of the Hungarian king, who was 6. This would theoretically promise Naples a prosper future, but it actually didn't.

Joanna I of Naples (from Katherine Dolan Writes)

   A couple of years, hereditary conflicts and uncertainties later, a disaster happened. During a stay on the royal vacation residence, a maid suddenly screamed in the middle of the night. She had seen how a lifeless corpse fell down off the balcony. It belonged to Andrew. After the news spread, the highly infuriated Hungarians accused Joanna, the most probable suspect. Therefore, the still 19-year old queen fled to the French Provence, where she found temporal shelter in the city of Avignon. On the other hand, the Kingdom of Naples had surrendered to the Hungarians, who wanted a fair papal trial. However, the clever Joanna knew the Pope was greedy, so she sold Avignon in return of her innocence and 80 000 florins. The French city would remain a papal enclave in the Provence for many centuries while Joanna would remain free.

Avignon's Papal Palace (from National Geographic)

   Now, coming back to Rocca Sparvièra, local legend affirms that the queen and her two kids spent here some time during her getaway in Provence. Local legend also tells that they were the responsible of Rocca Sparvièra's future abandonment. It is said that on the Christmas Eve of 1357, Queen Joanna would attend a mass in the nearby village of Coaraze. But meanwhile she was there, the supposedly drunk monk at the castle was planning something gruesome, as he wanted to revenge Andrew. So, seizing the opportunity of her absence, he murdered her children and cut them into small pieces before roasting them. When she came home for dinner, she was served the remains of her kids. 

  As soon as she discovered what she had just eaten (the myth doesn't explain how), she ran down the hill fully grieved. However, before disappearing from the place she said a last phrase: "Bloody rock, malignant rock, a day will come when neither rooster nor hen will crow upon your ruins"... Yet, for the disappointment of skeptic people, this whole story is almost surely a lie. It is true that her offspring died very young by unknown causes, but historical archives inform that Joanna had her first children after she sold Avignon, so it is impossible she already had them in Rocca Sparvièra. Anyway, the alleged phrase she said did become reality.

The Abandoned Houses (from Voyages en France)

   In the late 15th century, a subsequent row of natural disasters didn't seem to cease. Initially, the danger were the continuous crop losses that produced a seven-year-long famine; then, the plague and other deceases would make its way through the village; and three relatively heavy earthquakes would finally even destroy the infrastructure. However, 300 years after all had started, a couple of optimistic villagers would still remain in the ruins, but the sudden dry-up of the spring that supplied the settlement with water, would make them pack the bags too. In 1723, Rocca Sparvièra was already deserted. Coincidence or really cursed?

  Nowadays, the castle has no similarity to its original look. As Joanna wished, no single bird inhabits the rock and what's more, its only remains are irregularly dispersed stones. Yet, something catches someone's eye. Just below the ruins, a perfectly conserved building lays peacefully in the sunshine. This is the Saint-Michel chapel, and it was constructed on the old village cemetery in the 18th century, after Rocca Sparvièra was abandoned. Lastly, the only way up is an old mule track, but a zigzag-shaped paved road joins it with the nearby village of Coaraze. According to many travel blogs, a trip uphill is highly recommended due to its natural beauty!

Lone Saint-Michel Chapel (from Mapcarta)

Sources: Grand Sud Insolite, GEO, TravelLetter, Naples LDM, Voyages en France