Italian devilish locations

Sometimes some great engineering architectural works were so bizarre and advanced for the time they were built that the local folklore said to have been constructed by the devil or with the devil's help. Most of these spectacular constructions have been built between 1000 and 1600 AD, a good period for folklore to flourish.

Devil's Bridge is a term applied in Italy to these bridges:

Ponte del Diavolo - Ascoli Piceno, Marche
Ponte del Diavolo - Blera, Lazio
Ponte del Diavolo (officially Ponte Vecchio, also Ponte Gobbo) - Bobbio, Emilia Romagna
Ponte del Diavolo (or Ponte della Maddalena) - Borgo a Mozzano, Tuscany
Ponte del Diavolo - Cavallara (a frazione of Gualdo Cattaneo, Umbria)
Ponte del Diavolo - Cividale, Friuli
Ponte del Diavolo (Ponte Vecchio) - Dronero, Province of Cuneo, Piedmont
Ponte del Diavolo - Lanzo Torinese, Piedmont
Ponticello del Diavolo (‘the Devil's little bridge') - Torcello, Veneto

The most famous Italian devil's bridge is probably the “Ponte della Maddalena” in the little village of Borga a Mozano (Lucca, Tuscany). This enormous construction links the two shores of Serchio river in the winding mountainous region called Garfagnana.

 

 

The legend says that a master builder was contracted to build a new bridge on the Serchio River but when he realised that he would have never been able to make the deadline he starting despairing. Suddenly a strange merchant stood next to him and offered his help to the constructor.
The bridge would have been finished within that night but he would have taken as gift the soul of the first living thing that would have crossed the bridge once finished.
The builder agreed and the following day the village had its new bridge.  
The master told the villagers that nobody should cross the bridge before night and afterwards he went to Lucca to seek the dishop's advice.
"Fool the devil," the wise bishop suggested "Send a pig across first"
The builder did exactly what the bishop had suggested and the devil, furious to have been tricked, threw himself into the river.