In 1700 Via dei Crociferi was a place of secret meetings at night for noblemen who did not want to be discovered while they were weaving clandestine love stories and engaging in conspiracies of various kinds.
To avoid the approach of the curious, a rumour was spread about a headless horse wandering along Via Crociferi in the middle of the night, and so the place was soon no longer a meeting place.
A young man, agreeing to a bet with friends said that he would go to the street at night, and as proof he would drive a nail into the Arch of the Benedictine Nuns.
The young man reached the Arch and managed to climb up and drive the nail, but he didn't notice that his cloak was attached to it and when the time came to descend, feeling himself being tugged, he thought he was somehow grabbed by the Headless Horse and died of fright. The nail mark is still visible today.
