Catalina Lercaro

Catalina Lercaro (Catherine Lercaro), 16th century, was an Italian-Canarian woman belonging to the family of Lercaro, renowned in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain).

The Lercaro were an important family of Genoese merchants, based in Tenerife after the conquest. Catalina, daughter of Antonio Lercaro, was forced to marry an older man, who enjoyed a good position and great wealth. This marriage of convenience did not please Catalina, who on her wedding day decided to kill herself by leaping into the pit which is located in the courtyard of his house-mansion (now the Museum of the History of Tenerife). The legend suggests that Catalina body is buried in one of the rooms in the house, because, having committed suicide, the Church opposed to his receiving a Christian burial in a cemetery. These facts led Lercaro the family moved to live in La Orotava. Since then many people claim to have seen the specter of Catalina Lercaro walking through the halls of the museum. Later in 1993 the manor house became the present Museum of History and Anthropology of Tenerife.

Currently Catalina Lercaro is the "spectrum" most famous Canary Islands.

References

• El fantasma de Catalina (Spanish)