The Beatrice Cenci Case: A Ghost Trail to Ponte Sisto

In 1599 Beatrice Cenci was executed in Rome for killing her father, a man whose violence towards his own household was well enough known that the city took her side and the pope did not. The case was argued across Europe, painted, and written about for three centuries afterwards. It is still the most famous murder in Roman history. This is a self-guided game rather than a tour. Clues lead you from one place to the next, each one has a puzzle to solve, and at each solved location a different ghost gets its story told. It starts at Piazza del Popolo and finishes at Ponte Sisto. The route goes through the Cenci family's own part of the city, past the palace that carries their name and the side streets around it, and over the bridge where the legend puts Beatrice still. It also stops at the Museo delle Anime del Purgatorio, a small museum devoted to the souls in purgatory, which is exactly what it sounds like. No group, no start time, and better after dark. The squares involved are busy by day and quite different at eleven at night, which is when the material lands.