Legend
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Giuseppe
Balsamo, better
known with the name of Alessandro, Count of Cagliostro, was the
most famous prisoner of the San Leo fortress. 
A
self-styled magician, thaumathurge, fortune teller, alchemist and
forseer, he was known among his contemporaries also as a frequent
caller at courts and social gatherings, appreciated by the
European nobility and princes for his versatile and attracting
activities. He was condemned to death by the High court of the
Holy Office on 4 April 1791, and later pardoned with
imprisonement for life by Pope Pio VI. Behind his condemnnation
for eresy there lay political reasons, and he served 4 years and
4 months of hard imprisonement.
He was accused to have founded a
new massonic lobby in the Papal States and of keeping contacts
with the French Massonery. Cagliostro could not deny the accuse
because the deed was proved by the publication of one of his
writings "Rituels de la maconnerie egiptienne" (
Rituals from the egyptian massonery): he could only defend his
unsustainable spiritual position. At first he was imprisoned in
the cell of the "treasure", named so because the dukes
of Urbino used to keep their gold and jewels there. 
The cell was placed on the sheer cliff on the top of the mountain and it was the safest cell. Then, he was moved to the cell named of the well because the entrance was through a trap-door on the ceiling. Cagliostro was forbidden to write or communicate with anybody. He was closely watched in the fear he could commit suicide or tryed to escape. Although he was kept completely isolated by the rest of the world, he kept on rising curiosity around him so that legends and false news about him continued to flourish for a long time.
He died on 26 August 1796, probably for an apopletic attack, at the age of 52. He never confessed or denied his creed, therefore he died an eretic and excommunicate and he was denied a Christian burial.
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