Original subtitles

He did it!

He's there, in front of the gate, waiting for us!

Stop, Laster!

I'm filming something

about DANZA MACABRA.

It's a film where they shot a scene right in front of this gate.

Let me just show you, you might remember the film...

No, I... Ah, yes...

This picture here, see?

The protagonist is outside this gate, and at the end, he dies

because the gate closes.

Bang!

One of the spikes stabs him in the neck.

My husband would remember because he was already here

and I think he...

Do you live here?

Yes.

He's worked here forever.

Foster?!

Nobody ever survived the Night of the Dead.

Did you stay behind for me, A/an?

Yes, Elisabeth!

I was about twenty years old when the film was made.

I was working here in the building as a laborer. We were restoring the roof.

I came here in 1962.

I was here because my aunts lived in a section of the palace;

they were friends of Prince Giovanni del Drago.

My cousin Maria Grazia and I were eager to watch the filming of the movie.

I went to my aunts‘ house with my cousin Maria Pace.

I was very excited because one of the actors was Silvano Tranquilli,

who was very handsome and pretty well-known back then

because he had worked in many television productions.

My cousin and I were so excited.

We went to the aunts‘ place and peeked at the set, very quietly of course.

We were standing right back there.

When the crew arrived, we went to snoop around.

I don't remember if the word had spread around the village,

or if we had been tipped off by the aunts or Prince Giovanni himself.

We were young girls of thirteen or fourteen.

I was already working here in the palace at the time of filming.

In 1963, I had caretaking duties.

I was living in the palace, and that's how I came to know about the shoot.

- He found out directly that a movie crew was coming. - Yes, yes, exactly.

I don't really remember how many people the crew consisted of,

but it doesn't seem to me that it was a lot.

We would watch them working,

and no outside person was allowed to enter the building.

I remember that we stood near a door,

and we could see the graveyard set from above.

The tombstones were perhaps made of wood,

and of course they were not in the ground, but resting on it.

There were also crosses, to make the location stand out even more.

They were filming, so we couldn't get closer to get a better look.

We were quite shy, so we did not dare to get closer.

I remember a curious anecdote that has stuck with me

even though it is very simple.

The crew was making a lot of spider webs using a spray.

I was very intrigued by such a web-making method!

It's just a little anecdote I wanted to tell.

In the days when the crew worked here at the building,

I remember some townspeople were intrigued,

even by details like the fake, spray-created cobwebs put on the gate.

I don't think anyone was particularly perturbed by the events, though.

They used the actual gate, without altering the spikes or anything.

I remember seeing the filming of the carriage arriving at the gate,

and there was a crew member moving the tree branches to give a sense of movement.

I recall the scene of a man getting impaled by one of the spikes.

I remember the actress Barbara Steele, who was extremely attractive.

Seeing her has stayed with me,

perhaps partly because dressed in black she had a mysterious and fascinating allure.

The idea of this beautiful woman among the spirits intrigued us.

The film was shot in these surroundings.

The gate with the spikes and cobwebs was a pivotal image.

To get to the entrance you go through

a beautiful garden that has changed since that time.

The palace can be visited, by the way.

I don't think many rooms are shown in the movie.

This place where we are now was not there at the time of the movie.

The wall over there has been raised.

If we go down these stairs, we find ourselves in an area

that was rebuilt for a dance party, a birthday bash.

There on the left was a laurel hedge.

It was over there, and here was a small rose garden.

The pathway surface at that time was much lower.

Let's go further.

Here is another recent staircase, as you can see.

Let's go down the stairs.

The pathway was more central, and the gate was left as it was.

This wall was built later for the party.

The pathway surface in this yard also has been raised.

You enter the garden from here. At that time, these stairs were not here.

Here was the cemetery set.

Back then, this wall was much lower.

As you can see, it is newly built. The bricks look recent.

Here was a big cedar tree that was cut down. It was right here.

Tombstones had been placed here, around this spot.

Here was a cave, which can be seen in the film.

As you can see, there are some new walls that were not here at that time.

You can still notice the archway made of bricks.

This cave was walled up during some work on the garden.

Here is another part of the garden.

Some work has been done in this area as well, but not extensively.

Here was another cedar tree,

which was cut down because it had become dangerous.

This wall has also been raised a couple of meters;

it's easy to tell that it was much lower years ago.

This is the door where

you see the two main characters coming out.

It is the same door that was there at the time, but it has been restored.

These stairs also appear in the film.

The wall is the same as in the movie,

both the one on the right and the one on the left.

Only this gate has been put in,

so it doesn't appear in the film.

If you carry on up the stairs

we find another raised wall.

This spot was slightly lower in those days.

It was slightly lower, yes.

From here, you could go down and into the other area.

This door has been changed.

So many years have passed since the movie was made.

Now, this is a beautiful garden.

At that time, it was basically a place to park cars.

It was the only place where the people living here could park cars.

The staircase over there was in a different spot,

and this staircase that leads to the garden was slightly further to the left.

You can see the marble step from the original location.

Now it is more to the right.

As I said, cars were parked here back then; no flowers nor plants.

This is where you go to the front door that we came out of.

That wall was not there, as I said before.

Things have changed a lot since then.

This is the main entrance, the very same you see in the film.

The gate is original. Only that metal grill has been changed.

I don't know if you can see it in the movie,

but it was changed because the prince didn't like it.

This is the palace of the del Drago family.

It is a historic residence and also important in terms of the urban layout.

It is located at the foot of the fortress,

and part of this palace was built in 1533.

This part where we are now was built in 1561.

Different periods of construction with a short break,

and this was the exit to the garden, not the monumental entrance.

At the time of the film, this was already the main entrance.

The garden we visited was not present; it did not exist at that time.

There was the spot where they built the cemetery set.

There were some old pine trees, but nothing else. It was very different.

At that time, Bolsena was a tiny village. Now, it is a small town of sorts.