The criminal history of Leonarda Vincenza Giuseppa Cianciulli (Montella, 18 April 1894 – Pozzuoli, 15 October 1970), one of the most ruthless Italian serial killers known as the “Soap Maker of Correggio”
Cakes and biscuits still warm, placed on the windowsill, waiting for them to cool. A chat between friends, a confidence, a gossip.
All this happened in Montella, in Irpinia, within the walls of the old and rickety house of Leonarda Cianciulli. The last of six children, cursed by her mother from the day of her birth because she was the result of rape.
Curses that echoed in Leonarda's mind for years and that were not long in coming, especially after she refused an arranged marriage to marry the man she loved.
The woman lost thirteen children during pregnancy and in the cradle.
Desperate, she turned to a sorceress, asking her to help her have children but above all to protect them at all costs.
Shortly after this meeting she finally managed to become a mother. The years passed quickly and the children grew up. Giuseppe, the eldest, would soon receive the call to the front and she could not allow this to happen.
He therefore thought that human sacrifices were the most effective solution. What more than human life and blood would have value?
Despite her rebellious nature, a “protagonist” of scams and thefts since she was young, in her adolescence, we certainly would not have expected to find ourselves in front of the most famous Italian serial killer of the 900th century: “The Soap Maker of Correggio”.
Between 1938 and 1940 Leonarda Cianciulli committed three murders, three women she hosted at home, deceiving them. She presented herself as a friend, a confidant, an advisor, a fortune teller, and for this reason many women fell into her subtle but lethal web.
The modus operandi was the same: Leonarda gained the trust of the victims who even left her all their belongings. After multiple meetings, in a typical afternoon during one of their conversations, taking advantage of the distraction of the latter, she hit them with a blunt object, then dissolved them in the caustic soda that was boiling in the pot, even before their arrival.
Once the victim's body had melted, he would drain the viscous fluid into a well, keeping only the blood, and once it had dried he would grind it up.
One part was used to create scented and creamy soaps to give as gifts, the other as a “secret” ingredient for biscuits that she often gave to friends who visited her and to her family, including her son Giuseppe.
However, it was not difficult to get to her. It was initially said that her son Giuseppe was an active part of this plan, however he was acquitted, due to insufficient evidence, following the trial.
To convince the jury that she was the only one responsible, legend has it, Cianciulli quartered the corpse of an unidentified person in just twelve minutes. The reality was very different, in reality it was a simulation carried out thanks to the "collaboration" of a prisoner who volunteered for the demonstration.
The defense argued that she was totally mentally ill. Leonarda Cianciulli was sentenced to 30 years in prison, three of which were spent in a psychiatric institution. She spent the rest of her life in the mental asylum of Pozzuoli.
She died on October 15, 1970, and was buried in the city cemetery. Today, the tools used by the latter can be seen at the Criminological Museum of Rome.
Frances Esposito
Article published on 1 July 2023 - 10:20
