A brave woman and the abusive relationship she couldn’t escape — It was December 1, 1896, when a piece of terrible news made the tour of Rome: the woman known as Countess Lara was brutally murdered in her house. Successful journalist, poet, novelist, and icon of 19th-century high society, this incredible woman was shot to death when she was just 47…

What ever happened to Maria Teresa Dell’Unto? — When Maria Teresa Dell’Unto lost her husband at the age of 37, she became a nurse and found a job at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome. She soon befriended Angelo Stazzi, one of her new coworkers. …

Gaspare Zinnanti, the “purifier” of Milan — The Milan subway was crowded at 9:30 a.m. on March 12, 1997. People were clustering and queuing to catch the train on the platform of the stop preceding the central station. Among them was a woman named Genoveffa Nuzzo, who had to join her husband in the city center. She…

After three trials and nearly 50 years, no one still knows the truth — It was November 8, 1975, and no one had heard from the Santangelo family for nine days. Domenico “Mimmo” Santangelo, his wife Gemma, and his 19-year-old daughter Angela seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Their neighbors were worried, as they had a good relationship with the whole family. …

Annamaria and Mariena’s madness of two — Castelluccio dei Sauri is a small town of about 2,000 inhabitants in the province of Foggia, in southern Italy. It’s one of those small towns where everyone knows each other, the typical place where no one would think anything wrong could happen. …

Only a collaboration between the police of three countries could stop him — Roberto Succo was born in Mestre, near Venice, on April 3, 1962. He was a shy, reserved, and reclusive boy who had good but not excellent grades in high school and was too introverted to make friends. Nevertheless, he was intelligent and passionate about many things, such as cars and…

The horrible death of Elisa and Patrizio — It was the evening of March 9, 1997. In Cori, a small mountain town in the province of Latina, near Rome, Angelo Marafini was worried. His daughter Elisa, a girl just seventeen years old, was late for dinner. That day was a Sunday, and Elisa had gone out with her…

The mysterious deaths of Alvise di Robilant and maybe a second victim — At 8:30 pm on January 15, 1997, 72-year-old Count Alvise di Robilant was alone in his apartment in a historic palace in Florence playing the piano. Alvise di Robilant was an elegant, cultured nobleman and a well-known art expert among the Tuscan nobility and upper middle class. He was born…

Shortly thereafter Monica Calò was dead — A particular and terrible fetish drove Marco Mariolini: he was attracted only to unhealthily thin women. He dreamed of possessing skeletal bodies, taking these fantasies to the level of a full-blown obsession. He himself gave his attraction a name, calling himself an “anorexophile.” …