This week, Gina covers "The Soap Maker of Correggio," Italy's most notorious female serial killer, Leonarda Cianciulli. Leonarda would murder three women who considered her a friend in the small Italian village of Correggio, Italy in 1940. More disturbing than the crimes themselves was her actions after the murders, eventually making her a household name throughout Italy.
Leonarda Cianciulli was born on November 14th, 1893 to Mariano and Emilia di Nolfi in Montella, Italy. She was conceived after her father Mariano kidnapped and raped her mother Emilia, and her parents only married because Emilia became pregnant. When Leonarda was an infant her mother really struggled with connecting with her and being able to love her daughter, mainly because the pregnancy was the result of such a violent and traumatic event. A year or so after Leonarda was born, her father Mariano passed away, leaving her mother as a widow. Emilia remarried fairly quickly, but even after she enters a happier marriage she still struggled to form a connection with her eldest child and would often be emotionally abusive.
With her second husband Emilia welcomed a few more children. Leonarda spent a lot of her childhood playing alone, and she was additionally ushered away from her siblings since she suffered from a few ailments, including epilepsy, which her mother and step-father viewed as a burden. In her pre-teen years, Leonarda attempted to hang herself twice. During the first attempt her family stopped her, with her mother making it clear to her afterwards her disappointment in the attempt being unsuccessful, and during the second attempt the rope broke.
Leonarda tried as best she could to make the most of her teenage years. Luckily at school, she made a tight knit group of friends.Her friends knew and hung around with quite a few older guys, which is how Leonarda met, office clerk, Raffaele Pansardi. Leonarda was smitten with Raffaele, and the two began a relationship, and would marry in 1917, with her mother cursing her on her wedding day, "no child of yours will ever survive." Leonarda feared what her future would hold, and she found some comfort in visiting fortune tellers. One gypsy fortune teller she visited early on in her marriage reportedly told her, “You will marry and have children, but all your children will die.” Soon after she visited a palm reader who told her, “In your right hand I see prison, in your left a criminal asylum.”
The couple enjoyed their first years of marriage, and lived in a relative quiet and happy life together in the Alta Irpinia peninsula. Over the course of their marriage, Leonarda would have seventeen pregnancies. She suffered three miscarriages, and lost ten children, either in childbirth or in infancy. By 1929, 37 year old Raffaele and 36 year old Leonarda, had three surviving children: 11 year old Giuseppe, 10 year old Bernardo, and 6 year old Biagio.. In 1930 the area suffered a major earthquake. With their home and nearly all their belongings destroyed the family were forced to relocate, they then settled down in the village of Correggio in the Province of Reggio Emilia, located about 38 miles north of Bologna, Italy. Not long after the move, Leonarda became pregnant and unfortunately she would miscarry. But in 1934, the couple welcomed their fourth child and only surviving daughter Norma.
After the move the family initially struggled financially, however they did later receive a sum of money for compensation for the damage the earthquake had caused to their previous home. Using this money, Leonarda opened a small shop in Correggio. She did many things from this shop, she sold various homemade baked goods and sweets, handmade soaps, she would sell used clothing, and also would perform palm readings, or astronomy and spiritual readings as well.
Her business was very successful and along with her involvement in community endeavors, Leonarda was a very well liked and respected citizen of Reggio Emilia.
By all accounts, through all her struggles and hardships it seemed as though Leonarda created a happy and fulfilling life for herself and her family. But the words her mother had cursed her with on her wedding day never left her mind. Leonarda’s quaint and quiet life came crashing down in 1939, where her eldest surviving child Guiseppe who she had an extremely close relationship with, received notice that he was being drafted to the Italian army for World War II. Leonarda was not prepared to deal with the thought of losing another child, and she turned to desperate measures.
Leonarda came to the conclusion that the only way she was able to break the curse and be guaranteed Giuseppe’s safety in the war, was to make human sacrifices. She quickly identified women living in her neighborhood that frequently visited her for advice and really trusted her.
73 year old Faustina Setti, was a neighbor of Leonarda’s, who as she approached older age really struggled with her romantic life, she had never married and often would confide in Leonarda about how lonely she was. During one of Faustina’s visits to Leonarda, Leonarda took advantage of Faustina’s trust and Leonarda told her that she had a wealthy suitor to set Faustina up with. She told her the man lived in Pola and told Faustina that she would set up correspondence between the two of them. She told her not to tell anyone about the relationship, as to not arouse any envy or have women competing for the suitor in Pola. Faustina prepared to leave for an extended vacation to meet with Pola and she really had never been happier and was ecstatic to meet her potential husband. She dyed her grey hair black, packed her things, and in the afternoon before Faustina was set to leave Correggio, she visited Leonarda.
Leonarda offer Faustina a glass of wine, which she had secretly drugged. Once Faustina fell unconscious, Leonarda grabbed an axe and murder Faustina, after she was sure she was dead she transported the body into a washing room. In the wash tub, Leonarda cut up Faustina’s body into pieces, she then threw the body parts into a large pot along with about 15 pounds of lye. She stirred the concoction until it nearly all dissolved and turned it a thick gel like texture, which she would later discard down a septic tank. A good amount of blood had been left in the wash bin, Leonarda waited for it to solidify, and then ground it up and mixed it in with cake batter, and made tea cakes which she herself enjoyed, however she primarily served it to her family and friends and neighbors that visited. Having an excess amount of blood after preparing the tea cakes, Leonarda also took the liberty of using the blood to make small chocolates which she shared with neighborhood children.
55 year old school teacher Francesca Soavi often confided in Leonarda. She stopped by for a visit one day and Francesca shared with Leonarda that she was looking for employment. Leonarda informed Francesca that she had a connection to all girls boarding school in Piacenza, where she could get a position set up for Francesca, since she had a connection.
On the morning of September 5th, 1940, the day Francesca was set to leave for Piacenza, she stopped by Leonarda’s before heading out of town. Once she got there Leonarda convinced her to stay for at least one cup of coffee, which she had secretly drugged. Once Francesca fell unconscious, Leonarda killed her with an axe. Leonarda disposed of Francesca’s body the same way she had Faustina’s, and again used her ground up blood to make desserts she would serve to family and friends.
53 year old Virginia Cacioppo once served as a soprano in the La Scala Opera in Milan before settling in Correggio. Like with the first two victims, Virginia often confided in Leonarda. During one visit, Leonarda told Virginia that she had a connection with an Impresario in Florence and could set up an arrangement for Virginia to take the stage once more.
On the morning of September 30th, 1940 Virginia paid one last visit to Leonarda, before she was set to leave Correggio and begin her new life in Florence. Like with the other two victims, Leonarda drugged Virginia and murdered her with an axe, and she dismembered Virginia’s body. However the disposal of Virginia’s body was slightly different. Instead of disposing of the dissolved body, Leonarda opted to add some cologne to the pot, so that she could turn the gel-like mixture into bars of soap. Later saying, “...After a long time on the boil I was able to make some of the most acceptable creamy soap. I gave bars to neighbors and acquaintances. The cakes, too, were better; that woman was really sweet.”
Virginia Cacioppo’s sister-in-law, Albertina Fanti quick grew suspicious. The day Virginia was set to leave town, the sister in law actually saw her to Leonarda’s home for her visit. So after Virginia seemed to just vanish, she did a bit of digging on her own, and managed to find out that Leonarda had sold a bunch of clothes, hats, and shoes that belonged to Virginia. She went to the Reggio Emilia police and expressed her concerns. Police quickly opened an official investigation, because they thought the circumstances were a little odd as well. They decided to stop by Leonarda’s home and pay her a visit. Once they got to her house, Leonarda opened the door, and let the police in. They started to question her and she remained tight lipped, but eventually made a full confession, and provided police with detailed accounts of her crimes.
When police initially searched Leonarda’s home for potential evidence, nothing particularly comprising turned up. But soon after they received a tip about...it was confusing because it had to be translated from Italian, but from what I could some kind of item that had belonged to of one of the victims turned up, which lead police to search Leonarda’s home once again, and this time they found an axe, a hammer, a hacksaw, a kitchen cleaver, as well as traces of blood in the bathroom and the pantry.
Leading up to the trial, in August of 1941, a psychiatric evaluation was ordered to determine whether or not Leonarda was insane when she committed the murders. One of Italy’s most reputable psychiatrists, Filippo Saporito, who at the time served as the Director of the Criminal Asylum of Aversa, where Leonarda was awaiting trial, was enlisted to perform her evaluation, and determined she was fit enough to stand trial.
While still awaiting trial in 1943, Leonarda wrote a 748 page long memoir, called “Le confessioni di un'anima amareggiata” or in English An Embittered Soul’s Confessions. In the book she described her soap making methods, and how she used her victim’s remains in meticulous detail.
After over five years in police custody, the triple murder trial began on June 12th, 1946, at the Civil & Criminal Court in Reggio Emilia. The prosecutors were Giulio Laurens and Mevio Magnarini, and Giulio Fornaciari defended Leonarda. Spectators from far and wide heard the stories about Leonarda and her crimes in the papers, and waiting outside the courtroom for hours in hopes of getting a glimpse at the trial. Throughout the trial Leonarda did not show any remorse and while the accounts of the crimes were being reported to the court, she would often chime in and correct them. It was reported that as she spoke of her crimes she her “dark eyes gleamed with a wild inner pride.”
On July 29th of 1946, closing arguments were held, during these final moments in the trial, Leonarda was described as softly weeping with her head resting on her head. The jury was released to deliberate at 1:15 p.m. Just two and a half hours later, at 53 years old, Leonarda Cianciulli was found guilty on the counts of premeditated, aggravated, and continuous triple murder, three counts of robbery, and three counts of desecration of a corpse. The courts found her "semi-" insane and order that part of her thirty year must be served in an insane asylum. he did appeal her case a few times and then also at one point asked for a pardon, all of which were denied.
Throughout her sentence, Leonarda was often transferred to various prisons throughout Italy. Eventually she was transferred to the Judicial Asylum for Women in Pozzuoli, Italy. When she was in prison she often spent her free time writing her memoirs, crocheting, and she also was said to love to bake for the nuns and fellow prisoners. On nun recalled, “Despite the scarce means at our disposal, she prepared very tasty sweets that none of the inmates dared to ear.” Her children were said to have visited her often.
In the aftermath of the trial, all of Leonarda’s family moved away from Correggio, and it is not known how they spent the rest of the days or if she has any remaining direct relatives. Leonarda Cianciulli passed away due to cerebral apoplexy while in the Pozzuoli Women’s criminal asylum on October 15th, 1970. She was 77 years old.
Today, the axe, cleaver, hacksaw, hammer, and a cauldron taken from Leonarda’s home can be seen on display at the Criminological Museum in Rome.
Sources
Blanco, Juan Ignacio. “Leonarda Cianciulli | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers.” Murderpedia.org, 2019, murderpedia.org/female.C/c/cianciulli-leonarda.htm.
Famous People Staff. “Leonarda Cianciulli.” Thefamouspeople.com, 2015, www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/leonarda-cianciulli-21548.php.
Fan City Contributors. Leonarda Cianciulli, The Soap Maker of Correggio. 13 July 2015, www.fancityacireale.it/wordpress2/leonarda-cianciulli-la-saponificatrice-di-correggio/.
Rome Criminological Museum. “Cianciulli Case.” Www.Museocriminologico.It, 2020, www.museocriminologico.it/index.php/2-non-categorizzato/120-omicidi-caso-cianciulli2.
Serena, Katie. “Meet The Female Serial Killer Who Turned Her Victims into Teacakes and Soap.” All That’s Interesting, 29 Jan. 2018, allthatsinteresting.com/leonarda-cianciulli.
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