Barliario

Peter Barliarius, lived in Salerno in the 12th century, and stories and legends are woven about him. He was called “Magician,” was certainly an alchemist, and among the many magics he practiced it is said that he was able to fly. He was once sentenced to death, but escaped the executioner by disappearing, leaving a donkey in his place.
His dealings with the magical sciences inevitably led him to associate with the infernal inhabitants, and to have dealings with them. He once bet that he would build an aqueduct in a single night, an aqueduct capable of bringing water to the whole city. He therefore asked Lucifer for help, so that he would entrust him with his infernal court to complete the feat. The Lord of the Abyss sent him a thousand devils to help, on the condition that not a single rooster should be found in the city, for their crowing would make the terrible builders flee.
All the roosters were therefore killed by order of Barliarius, except that of an old woman, who hid her rooster in a tub. At sunset the hellish work began: the devils lifted huge stones and arranged them in order to build the arches of the aqueduct that rose majestically. But before dawn dawned, the surviving rooster let out his crowing, and the devils, thinking the day had come, fled, throwing two large boulders into the sea, which ended up as far as the coast of Positano where they can still be seen today: these are the two islets called precisely Li Galli. The Devil’s Bridges, as they are still called in Salerno, remained over the centuries, bearing witness to that hellish night.
Barliarius lived a long life, staining himself with endless sins, but coming to the age of over ninety’he repented of his sins. The confessor to whom he went to get absolution told him that he could grant it only if he went in one day to hear mass in Rome, Santiago de Compostela, and Jerusalem. Peter did not flinch, and flying on the back of a devil he went to the three cities in the space of a single day. Standing before the Holy Sepulcher, Peter truly realized his sins and repented bitterly. Back in Salerno he spent nights and days in penance before an’image of a Crucified One, who finally bowed his head in forgiveness. And so Peter was able to die in the grace of the Lord.
To celebrate the miracle of the painting that bowed its head in Salerno, a church was built, dedicated to the Crucifix, and a great fair was instituted.