Foppolo, a small village wrapped in snow and silence, hides a secret that no one dares to tell anymore. At the edge of the woods, a house abandoned for decades stands like a silent warning, its windows barred and the door closed by rusty chains. It belonged to the Ravelli family, a wealthy Milanese clan that vanished into thin air on a winter night in 1983. Since then, rumors and legends have intertwined, fueling the mystery.
When Marco Anselmi, a freelance journalist obsessed with unsolved mysteries, arrives in town to investigate, his presence does not go unnoticed. The Cervo Nero, the only bar still open, becomes his first stop. But just saying the name Ravelli is enough for the atmosphere to become heavy: glances avoided, words suspended, a collective unease that suggests a truth never fully told.
Gianni, the bartender, is the only one to break the silence. He tells him about an old witness, Tomaso, who on the night of the disappearance swore he saw shadows moving in the woods and a disturbing figure in a long coat, motionless in front of the house. Then, a bloodcurdling scream and total silence.
Driven by his obsession, Marco decides to reach the abandoned house in the dead of night. What he finds between the cold walls and the dusty remains will change everything. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more he feels he is not alone. Something – or someone – is still waiting inside those walls.
And this is just the beginning.
The Enigma of the Abandoned House in Foppolo
by Marco Arezio
Stories. The enigma of the abandoned house in Foppolo. The return of a stranger. Chapter no. 1
Low clouds shrouded the mountain, turning Foppolo into a small, snow-padded world where everything seemed muffled by the silent snowfall. The altitude had an almost hypnotic effect on both residents and the few tourists: the biting air, the silence broken only by the wind whispering among the larches, and the dark silhouettes of the woods contributed to creating an atmosphere midway between fairy-tale magic and unsettling mystery. No one openly admitted being afraid of that winter scenery, yet one glance into the eyes of the townsfolk was enough to sense the weight of old, unspoken stories, whispered on the coldest evenings, when the glow of the fireplace was the only light able to pierce the pitch-black darkness.
What sent shivers down even the bravest spines was, above all, her: the abandoned house. An old, dilapidated building, austere and tragically solitary, standing not far from the ski slopes, right at the edge of the forest. For years, it had lingered like a shadow, with boarded-up windows and a front door barricaded by rusty chains. Anyone passing by described it as a warning—an eerie, silent presence hinting at buried secrets and memories laden with thorns. Almost no one found the courage to venture beyond the path leading to its gate.
They said it belonged to the Ravelli family, a wealthy Milanese clan that, in the 1980s, had bought the property intending to turn it into a luxurious chalet.
Their initial enthusiasm had faded one icy January when, unexpectedly, the Ravellis disappeared without a trace. From that day on, the house was left at the mercy of time. Rumors about it spread like wildfire—more quickly, perhaps, than the snow blown by the wind. Some claimed they had heard moans coming from inside on moonless nights. Others reported sudden lights at the windows, flashes that seemed to plead for help. Yet, until now, no one had found any answers.....
