When I was attending the university, I lived in a very singular women’s college. It was a very ancient institute, build around the middle of the 18th century to give a recovery to young unmarried women who, due to loneliness, struggled to live honestly. Most of them was pregnant or single mothers. The institute was under the direction of an order of secular nuns, women who make the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, but not live in a convent or monastery. These nuns took care of the poor girls and their creatures and taught them the job of dressmaker.

The building rose on four floors. At the first floor there was a little chapel and the nuns’ rooms. At the second floor the kitchen and the dining room, an infirmary, a big room with the sewing machine and some bedrooms. At the third and fourth floor more bedrooms, for the hosts of the pension. Some of them died of poverty or disease, so an orphanage was created in the first plant of the building and the nuns moved herself in the free bedrooms in the third and fourth floor, among the girls. Over time, the girls went away, but the orphanage remained for several years.

In the19th century the orphanage closed too, but the religion order stayed there and renewed its community support mission by opening a primary school.  Afterwards changed again, and become a girls' college for  non-resident students.

The structure, however, has remained similar to the origins. At the first floor there is the little chapel, the office of the Sister Director and a big visiting room for when relatives come to see you (mothers are allowed to go into the bedrooms, fathers, brothers, engaged ... are not!). At the second floor, the kitchen, the dining room and the infirmary continue to be there; in the big room there are no more sewing machine but a piano and some armchairs to relax and the other floors are bedrooms. In every floor there is a room with shared toilets and showers. And right in one of these was born the legend of the little girl ghosts.

But I've already written a lot, and maybe I'll talk about it in my next piece.