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Piazza Santissima Annunziata is not only a beautiful square with terrific history (for instance the birth of the Renaissance in Ospedale degli Innocenti, the angel who finished the altar painting in the Santissima church, etcetera). It also has its own tragic and romantic ghost story.
A young girl married a gentleman of the Grifoni family and moved into the Palazzo Grifoni (above). The couple were in love and very happy until the day came when he was called off to war. He promised her to come back soon and she waved goodbye to him from her window.
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She waited and waited, but the young man didn’t return. Weeks and months turned into years, and every day she sat by her window hoping to see him again. The shutters were always half-open.
But she waited in vain, he was forever gone.
The woman grew old and eventually she died. When she was carried out of the room someone closed the window that had been open for all those years. Then a whirlwind swept through the room, throwing books out of the shelf, lights were blinking, the floor shook and furniture flew across the room. It scared the people present half to death and it didn’t stop until the window was opened again.
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Since then the shutters of that window are always kept ajar, and if you ever come to Piazza Santissima Annunziata you can see for yourself. Top floor, the window next to the corner. You will find the bottom of one of the shutters open, sometimes both of them, like on these photos.
Thus the woman can go on looking for her husband and the house is calm and peaceful.
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FLORENSICS 