Mon 21 Nov Before the most reverend lord Iacobo Maracco, vicar general of Aquileia and apostolic commissioner, and the reverend father, master Giulo d’Assisi, iquisitor against heretical pravity in the dicese of Aquileia, in Cividale, in the convent of San Francesco, there appeared the venerable priest Bartolomeo Sgabarizza, rector of the parish church of Brazzano, who was recieved as a witness. After he took the oath, he stated:

I heard that in Brazzano a child, the son of Piero Rotaro, was sick from an unknown ailment, and that to learn about this ailment a certain woman had been consulted who was reputed to know if a person was bewitched. And the answer came in letters from the noble Raimondo Raimondi, Piero’s father-in-law, that the child was under a spell cast by a woman who supposedly ate meat on Fridays. I was astonished to learn this and in the course of discussing the case with Piero, he told me that it was said that in Iassico there lived a certain Paolo de Gasparutto who claimed that he roamed about at night with witches and goblins, and that it was possible to bewitch children. I begged M. Piero to summon the aforesaid Paolo…and he promptly had Paolo come…And I turned to Paolo and inquired, well, what was his opinion about these spells; and he replied that this little boy had been possed by witches, but at the time of the witchery the vagabonds were about and they snatched him from the witches’ hands, and if they had not done so he would have died….Since I wanted to learn more I asked him how and when they did such things. He told me that on Thursdays during the Ember Days of the year they were forced to go with these witches to many places, such as Cormons, in front of the church at Iassico, and even into the countryside about Verona. When I asked him what they did in these places, he said that they fought, played, leaped about and rode various animals; and the women beat the men who were with them with sorghum stalks, while the men only had bunches of fennel, and for this reason he begged me not to sow sorghum in my field and whenever he finds it he pulls it up, and he curses whoever plants it. And when I said I wanted to grow it, he began to swear. Because this all seemed very strange to me I came to Cividale to talk with you sir, or with the father inquisitor.

Thurs 7 Apr  Master Pietro Rotaro of Brazzano, witness received as above, sworn, cautioned and interrogated under the oath previosly taken, stated:

A few weeks ago, a child of mine, a little boy of four months fell sick, and suspecting that he had been bewitched, as it was rumored by several women, I went looking for Paolo of Iassico, called Gasparutto, who is known to go about with these witches and to be one of the benandanti. I asked him to privide me with some remedy for the little child. And he came to see him and no sooner had he seen him but he said that a spell had been cast on him by the witches and that he had been rescued from their hands by the benandanti….The aforementioned Paolo has admitted several times, even just yesterday to me, and to Father Bartolomeo, that he goes about with these witches, but he belongs to those who oppose evil, called benadanti. They go out to one country region or another, perhaps even as far away as Verona, and they appear together jousting and playing games; and the men and women who are the evil-doers carry and use sorghum stalks which grow in the fields, and the men and women who are benadanti use fennel stalks; and they go now one day and now another, but always on Thursdays, and when they make their great displays they go to the biggest farms, and they have days fixed for this; and when the warlocks and witches set out to do evil, they must be pursued by the benadanti to thwart them, and also to stop them from entering the houses, beacuse if they do not find clear water in the pails they go into the cellars and spoil the wine with certain things, throwing filth into the bungholes.

The above named Paolo said that when they go to these games some may travel on horseback, others on a hare or a cat, on one animal or another, but he would not name the men and women who attended. He told me that when he goes to these games his body stayed in bed and the spirit went forth, and that while he was out if someone approached the bed where the body lay and called to it, it would not answer, nor could he get it to move even if he should try, but if he did not look at it and called it, it would respond at once; and when they err, or speak with someone, their bodies are beaten, and they are found all black and blue…He told me that he would be mistreated for fifteen days for having told me these things, and if I did not believe him, that I should promise to go with him and I would see them for myself.