Santa Maria di Piazza is not just the setting of many religious legends, but also of a sinister 17th-century murder. It's said that while work was underway on one of the church's chapels, a carpenter's son and an ebonist's daughter fell in love and, faced with the girl's family's opposition, decided to elope. Before departing, the lovers stopped by the church for a prayer... only to be ambushed by the girl's father and brothers, resulting in a violent fight in which the young carpenter tragically died. To avoid capture (and the suspension of works on the church, in which they were all employed, in order to re-sanctify it after the crime) his murderers threw his body in the Po river. Still, someone managed to spot their suspicious nighttime activities, sparking a flurry of rumors all across town.