A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
Tebe, the horses are restless.
The heart is still beating.
There are more dead in the wood.
-How many? -I've counted twelve.
Thirteen deer.
They all died the same night.
Maybe the water is poisoned.
No.
Something terrible is about to happen.
Waning moon.
Night of bad omens.
If they find us here, it's the end of us.
Let's go.
The moment we've been waiting for is almost here.
Janara, it's time to go back to our ancient dwelling.
Here it comes, another one.
It's sore. It's never-ending.
Push, if you feel the urge.
Don't hold the baby back!
I feel it's stuck.
The baby is ready.
Come, sir. You cannot stay here.
Come, Ade. Help me.
It's dying. The baby is dying!
What is she saying? Send her away! I'm cold!
Away from here!
The world of the dead is opening up. I can feel it!
Send her away! She's a witch! Witch!
Go away, witch!
Quick, let's go.
We can't leave, we have to help her.
There's nothing else we can do for her.
Now run.
Don't stop.
This is the era in which we will begin to acknowledge the line
between magic and science.
We will stop believing in ancient superstitions.
And we will realize how the world works,
how bodies function, how life evolves,
without considering strange theories or magic inventions.
In our lessons, let knowledge always be...
without barriers.
They say this man died from an evil spell.
Who wants to measure...
the difference between science and magic?
Me, Professor.
Seemingly nothing is wrong with him.
Careful, Pietro.
Observe.
Eye...
and mind.
Lue Syphilis.
Only tiny spots.
We will trust our mind...
until we overcome the tyranny of witchcraft
with the mere strength of reason.
We will put shame on all those who go around at night, covered up,
in the name of God hunting for witches and dark wizards.
Every time obscurantism blames magic...
we will oppose it with scientific knowledge.
Because if a God exists, he must have given us the gift of intellect.
We will surely not be heretics,
if we wield it as the most powerful of all weapons...
until our world is more illuminated.
My friend.
He died without being baptized.
I'll speak to Father Tosco.
I had felt him.
I'd felt him moving strong and alive in the belly a moment before.
Cursed witch.
You've finished with your witchcraft.
Valente!
How is he?
Oh, power of the moon...
Get the decoction in the third jar.
Every time he's like this, give him a spoonful of this.
Why are you telling me this?
You'll do it as usual.
It won't be like before.
Grandma, what have I done?
Why did I feel that on that woman's belly?
What did you feel?
An icy shiver.
A door opening...
like lots of voices whispering.
-And his tiny soul... -You saw it?
...soaring from the body.
It never happened before.
What have I done?
You saw what was about to happen,
but you didn't cause it, you're not a jinx.
-How do you know? -I know because I know your soul.
I've raised you since little. I know all about you.
-Now listen-- -No! You listen to me.
That woman called me a witch. I saw that baby die. It isn't possible.
The world is full of truths that people ignore, Ade.
But they feel them. They are scared of them.
Listen, there's no more time.
Women preserve ancient wisdom.
But men fear it, they fight it. You defend it!
I don't want this wisdom. I'm a normal girl.
Accept it, Ade. Or the effects will be terrible.
There is no more time. The book!
-Are we ready? -Yes, Father.
The moon is going down.
Giambattista's firstborn is dead.
Another witch appeared. She's very powerful.
Every time we let a witch operate...
the devil becomes more powerful.
It poisons our city's healthy body.
Today, with the courage our Lord gives us,
with the strength of faith and the belief in good...
we will end its wicked reign.
May courage guide you.
May faith burn within you.
May courage guide us! May faith burn within us!
The Benandanti are coming.
I can't hear anything.
You will learn how to hear noises before they happen.
Have they come for me?
Nobody, for now, knows what has happened tonight.
They won't look for you.
-Come. -No!
Promise you will always take care of him.
Keep together.
Each one strengthens the other.
You scare me.
Promise!
I promise.
Copy me.
Do it, there's no time.
What's happening?
Who are you really?
A barrier separates the living and the dead.
Women keep it closed...
but if it were opened,
an army of furious dead would populate the earth.
At first, it would wipe out these women,
and then it would impose its power on the world.
Which women? Witches?
That's what they call them.
But they're much more than this.
If I don't come back, search at the end of the wood.
Right in the very center,
in a viper's nest.
There you can find the Lost Cities.
The sign is strong.
They will be back there.
Take the book with you, it's important.
They'll explain.
Don't go. I don't want them to take you for something I've done.
Take shelter.
Don't leave the shelter, no matter what happens.
Don't go. Don't leave me like the others did.
Be strong, my child. For yourself and for your brother.
I love you.
More than anything in the world.
Let's take her away!
Death to the witch!
Where's Grandma?
Sleep.
Pietro.
Pietro!
Spirto!
How long has it been? Any news from Serra?
Lots.
But not very good.
It's... your mother.
What's wrong with her?
A pain in her bones and in her head has tormented her for days.
She only had a bad headache.
Then the midwife came.
And after that woman came, she started to get worse.
Tell my mother to wait for me.
I'll get my things ready and I'll soon be back.
Spirto.
There's no woman involved.
We've got to find the root of this pain.
And cure her.
Now go.
Come on! Leave me!
-Anna, do you have any milk? -Children, come.
Bruno, Valente is sick. Do you have anything to eat?
Rosaria?
My brother hasn't eaten since yesterday.
There's nothing here for you.
Grandma looked after you. She cured you with herbs!
Your grandmother is a wicked witch.
Lord, please protect our home.
Go away from here.
That's the spot where the current is strongest!
If I were you, I would choose another one!
I know this place rather well.
I've never seen you here, though.
It was a suggestion!
Anyway, pleased to meet you. I am Pietro.
You're pretty like this!
I'll call you "half-skirt."
Come over here.
I can help you.
I think you are right.
Go ahead, horseman, I beg you.
So I can follow you safely.
Goodbye, Pietro!
Your pelts or your life, boy.
I thought studying would have made you serious.
-But you're the same idiot. -Disappointed?
Very much so.
Come here.
-I missed you, little sister! -I missed you too.
-Deer? -Yes.
We found many dead during the night.
Take me to my mother, Cesaria. Please.
Pietro, it's you.
I thought I heard your voice.
I thought I was dreaming.
Cinchona powder.
From now on, take this.
It will calm the fever.
You can't sleep in the room with Cesaria anymore.
You're no longer kids.
And she isn't your sister.
I'll put you in the study opposite.
Pietro...
your father...
he is convinced it's all caused by that lady, the witch.
He thinks her spell made me worse.
She's the same one who killed Giambattista's son.
The wrong treatment, and not a witch, makes you worse.
Rest. I am here now.
Good morning. I'll sell this basket in exchange for some fruit and vegetables.
I'm not interested.
I said no.
Good morning. I'll sell this basket in exchange for milk for my brother.
It's strong. It's made of cane and wicker.
Isn't she the midwife's granddaughter?
I don't know. I can't see her that well.
She wouldn't have dared!
-It's her. -And some bread.
How much? I'll do you a favor.
-The basket is worth more than this. -Do you want the milk or not?
It's her.
-It's her! -All right.
She is the granddaughter!
-She is the witch's granddaughter! -It's her!
Witch!
Accursed!
You have to die!
Go away!
Stop, beasts!
She is the witch's granddaughter. They killed a baby.
Go away, stranger.
He is Sante's son.
But they killed an innocent baby.
Are you filled with good...
or evil...
when you fling stones at a starving young girl on her own?
Father!
Father Tosco!
Father!
"A pin test showed Natalia Bruno was a witch...
...evil, profane...
...condemned to death."
You are condemning an innocent person, you can't!
Father! You are condemning an innocent person! You can't!
If I were you I wouldn't make all this noise.
Who are you? You don't know anything.
I understand better than you.
Go away. You can't do anything else for her.
Unless you too want to be burned to death.
Put the nettles on to boil.
-Where did you see this? -He came to the village.
Together with the one who brings the news.
He knocked on the door.
Is he a Benandante?
Is he a witch hunter?
Yes.
Is it true that they will burn Grandma to death?
They say she is a witch, that she killed a baby.
We must tell them it's not true.
We must tell them! We must stop them!
We can't do anything. Do you understand? Nothing!
Put the nettles on to boil.
At long last!
You shouldn't have left college halfway through the year.
Why didn't you tell me about Mother?
There wasn't much to tell, I'm dealing with it.
How?
By burning a poor old woman?
She isn't a poor old woman.
She killed Giambattista's son.
She cast an evil spell on his house.
And on your mother.
There are no such things as curses, Father.
Only illnesses.
There is always a reason, even for obscure and painful events.
I didn't make you study so that you could speak back to me.
Child.
Or to make you feel more powerful than the devil and the Almighty.
You can't burn her.
You are not a murderer.
No.
But unlike you, I know what it is to fight a war.
And you'll know it too, if it's true that my blood flows in your veins.
Let me past.
Mother, is this our new home?
Yes, my love. We'll be safe here.
What's happening?
I've got to go away.
-No, don't go away. -Yes, my love.
Listen to me.
When that door opens again...
whoever enters bringing your little brother will protect you.
Don't cry, my love.
Your tears won't save you.
Only your strength can save you.
We posses a very strong inner power.
And that's what they are afraid of. Our strength.
That's why they want to make us weak.
But we are stronger. Never forget that.
You've improved a lot.
It's you.
Why do you always come so stealthily?
To excite you all the more.
I'm excited all the same. Coming from beyond the wood?
Why can't you tell me where you live?
-Does your mistress not want you to? -It's not my mistress.
It's a different thing, a special thing. You have a master, I don't.
When I was a kid they always made fun of me
because I didn't have parents.
They said I was abandoned as a child.
I was as skinny as hell.
Now, yes! I have a master, I ride a horse! People respect me now.
Ask yourself if you respect the people whose respect you are seeking.
You talk in a complicated way.
Listen. Speaking of your master...
where is the witch everyone is talking about?
-Why are you asking? -Do you know?
-Your girlfriend's attractive. -I wish. No, I'm not interested in women.
-Sure. That's right. -Where are you going?
-Do you mean where are we going? -At night?
Pietro!
What's up?
Did you hear?
Someone's there.
It must have been your lamp bumping against the table.
The dead don't have legs for walking.
If you say so.
Let's go.
Was it useful?
Spirto, it was more than useful.
I knew there had to be a reason. The baby had a dark mark around its neck.
-She suffocated it! Oh, Jesus Christ... -Not her!
The umbilical cord suffocated the baby.
She only tried to save it, do you understand?
Spirto.
How powerful man would be...
if only he trusted his intellect.
Open!
I beg you! Open and let me see my grandmother.
Grandma!
Kill her!
-They will kill her! -Put her to death!
-We want to see her die! -Death to the witch!
-It's what you deserve! -Witch!
Witch!
Stop!
I have the proof!
She wasn't the one who killed Giambattista's son.
The baby had a dark mark around his neck.
-I saw it. -What is he saying?
-He was suffocated. -He's mad.
The cord twisted around his neck and suffocated him.
Exactly that way.
But the truth you bring us...
is that this innocent creature died a violent death...
and not a natural one.
Strangulated? Yes.
A creature incapable of moving can strangulate itself?
-But, Father-- -Son,
with your knowledge instilled by the good Lord,
you come to give us the proof.
The witch,
and the devil working through her,
killed this creature
by suffocating it in its own mother's womb!
-Yes! -Father!
Burn her!
She's a witch!
Set the old woman alight!
Burn her!
Burn the witch!
Don't look!
We have to go.
Thank you for all you did for us.
Farewell, Pietro.
No!
It's not farewell.
We will meet again.
This isn't a safe place for us anymore.
Do you know the aqueduct?
There is a fountain there. And I will color it for you.
That... is the sign I am waiting for you.
Half-skirt!
I don't even know your name.
Her power was so strong that...
as she burned, the sky darkened.
So her body didn't turn into ash.
No.
But her death is certain.
And it awakened your wife.
-Yes. -What?
-The young girl. -What?
-What are you saying? -It was the young girl.
It's the girl.
The girl.
Right in the very center...
in a viper's nest.
Where, Grandma, where?
Ade.
Clever, very clever.
That's what they call them.
But they're much more than this.
If I don't come back, search at the end of the wood.
Right in the very center...
in a viper's nest.
There you can find the Lost Cities.
Don't play jokes on me. I'm not leaving you!
Come, Ade.
We were waiting for you.