Can you curse a place? A hill or a village? Can you curse a village on top of a hill right in the middle of nowhere, for example? I know enough about shamanism in all its guises, including its surviving if withered variants in the so-called western civilization, but I would still say that cursing a place could never work. You can always try it, of course, but you will never succeed. At best, the curse will bounce back your own way, with a vengeance. Or so I thought before coming to Motovun. Or before getting to know it a bit more intimately. The place seems to be cursed, indeed. Ever since the exodus following World War II, which left it with a couple of original families at most, this village has been an inert victim to many a wave of new inhabitants, mostly from the most deprived regions in the Croatian hinterland. As of late, most of the new inhabitants come from abroad, but they never seem to take hold, either. Bereft of its own people, the village is emptying ever anew. It remains but a barren stage for folly in ever more outlandish guises. So, yes, it seems you can curse a village on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. And Motovun is a sorry example. This is where curses seem to be multiplying, too.