The abandoned beach of Sant'Apollinare and the legend of the Villa of the Ghosts

Villa Skirmunt is a well-known building in the city of Brindisi called 'the villa of ghosts'. The villa has origins of the late nineteenth century, and is located on the beach of Sant'Apollinare. Today it is an abandoned ruin, but still clearly visible in the landscape. It was built by Simone Skirmunt as a family vacation spot. The man was an important wine merchant who had his factory in Brindisi, but was of Polish origin. The legend tells of a truthful episode that over the years has been enriched with some details of which we do not know the certainty. It seems that the landlady had fallen in love with a gardener with whom she established a relationship. Upon learning of the fact, the husband hired a murderer to eliminate his lover. Shortly after, the owner's wife also died in the villa: it is not known whether she was pushed or whether it was a suicide, but she died throwing herself from the terrace onto the rocks of the beach. It is from that moment that the place seems to be haunted and that the soul of his dead wife still lingers in the villa. The episode breaks up the family, is then passed from property to property, until its decline and abandonment. It is not known how much truth there is in the legend, but the fact is that the place still attracts many tourists. The beach in the nineties was also the flagship of the Brindisi coast, a modern place that due to pollution and the industries that arose in the seventies had to close. And even the abandonment of the beach makes the legend of the villa even more mysterious.