The Casati Stampa murders refer to the 1970 murders, in Rome, Italy, committed by Camillo II Casati Stampa di Soncino, Marquis of Casate, of his wife Anna Fallarino and her lover Massimo Minorenti, followed by the suicide of the murderer, a crime that, at the time, "shocked Italy."[1][2]
Camillo II Casati Stampa di Soncino | |
|---|---|
 Marquis Casati Stampa and his wife Anna Fallarino, with the wife's lover Massimo Minorenti (inset) | |
| Born | 1927 |
| Died | 1970 |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Known for | Murder of wife & wife's lover |
| Title | Marquis |
| Children | Marquise Annamaria Casati Stampa |
| Details | |
| Victims | Anna Fallarino; Massimo Minorenti |
| Date | 1970 |
| Weapons | Browning 12-gauge machine gun |
Background
editCasati Stampa, born in 1927, was descendant of one of the oldest Milanese families of Italian nobility, which had risen to prominence since the 15th century.[3] His father was for a time married to heiress and patroness of the arts Luisa Adele Rosa Maria Amman. Stampa married young actress Letizia Izzo and they had a daughter, the marquise Annamaria. Anna Fallarino, born in 1929, grew up in Amorosi of the Benevento province in Campania. At the age of 12, as her niece Mariateresa Fiumanò later revealed in a book,[4] Fallarino was sexually abused by the local parish-priest.[5] Fallarino tried for a career in cinema, making only a short appearance in the comedy Totò Tarzan.[1] She married engineer Giuseppe "Peppino" Drommi and they had no children.[6][note 1]
In 1955, Stampa and Fallarino first met, by some accounts in Cannes,[6] or by others at an event at the Palazzo Barberini, in Rome.[7] They became lovers and, after succeeding in the annulment of their respective marriages by the Tribunale della Rota Romana (the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota), the highest appellate tribunal of the Catholic Church,[6] they got married in a civil ceremony in 1959,[8] and, in 1961, in a religious one.[6]
From the early days of their marriage,[5] Casati Stampa was inviting men to have sex with his wife while he was watching and often taking pictures, while he also kept a diary of these events.[1] The couple, during summertime, were mostly staying in the "rugged" island of Zannone, located off the coast between Rome and Naples, in a villa situated on the summit of the island, in which they were throwing nightly "wild parties" that involved "heavy drinking" and group sex and lasted until morning.[9]
The crime
editAmong the men who were sexual partners of Casati Stampa's wife was Massimo Minorenti, a young Italian involved in far-right circles who, after briefly appearing in porn films, worked as an escort of "older rich women."[10] Fallarino started seeing Minorenti without her husband being present and Casati Stampa, learning of this, became jealous.[5] On 30 August 1970, he stormed in a "distraught" condition their home on Via Puccini 9 and asked the servants not to disturb him. He entered the living room where his wife and Minorenti were sitting waiting for him and fired three shots with his 12-gauge Browning at Fallarino who was killed instantly and then two shots at Minorenti who had tried in vain to protect himself behind a small table. He then turned the weapon on his head and fired. The servants, upon hearing the shots, called the police.[5]
Aftermath
editThe marquis' will had bequeathed everything to his wife. Following their deaths, a legal battle began between the two respective families for the inheritance. The autopsy having determined that Fallarino had expired before her husband, the fortune of Camillo II Casati Stampa of more than 2.4 billion lire (at the time worth about $3.9mln[11] and in 2020 about $26mln[12]) was awarded to his heir, daughter Annamaria from his wedding to Letizia Izzo.[13] Among the fortune's assets was the Villa San Martino, in Arcore, which Annamaria sold to Silvio Berlusconi in 1972.[13]
More than a thousand photographs taken by Casati Stampa, and showing his wife in various "compromising" settings, found their way into newspapers and magazines some time after the crime.[10]
In 2020, author Maria Pia Selvaggio published her book, Il delitto di via Puccini (The crime of Puccini street), offering a "fictionalized" account of the crime.[14] The same year, director Umberto Rinaldi announced the production of a film based on the book,[15] but the project did not materialize. Also in 2020, L'affaire Casati Stampa was published,[16] in which its author Davide Amante claimed that "in reality, there was a great love story behind [the crime] but of a non-conformist love."[17]
By 2020, organizers of tours to crime scenes in Rome had started including visits to the address where the Casati Stampa murders were committed.[18]
On Zannone island, by the 2020s, no buildings remained except for a lighthouse and the deserted villa's remains. The island is the habitat of mouflon wild sheep, now a protected species.[19]
See also
editNotes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Pagani, Malcolm (4 August 2018). "Sesso, voyeurismo e sangue: quando il delitto Casati Stampa sconvolse l'Italia" [Sex, voyeurism and blood: when the Casati Stampa crime shocked Italy]. Vanity Fair (in Italian). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ Primo, Alessandro (27 February 2020). "Patrizia De Blanck: nuove rivelazioni sul delitto di Anna Fallarino" [Patrizia De Blanck: new revelations about the murder of Anna Fallarino]. The Social Post (in Italian). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ See Stampa (family)
- ^ Fiumanò, Mariateresa (2012). La marchesa Casati [The marquise Casati] (in Italian) (1st ed.). Dalai Editore. ISBN 978-8866203698.
- ^ a b c d Di Pietro, Angela (28 February 2016). "La marchesa molestata dal parroco" [The marquise molested by the parish priest]. Il Tempo (in Italian). Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Il delitto Casati Stampa" [The Casati Stampa crime]. Misteri dal Mondo (in Italian). 25 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ Dell’Arti, Giorgio (2005). "I marchesi Casati Stampa" [The marquises Casati Stampa]. Cinquantamila (in Italian). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ Avenia, Franco (20 September 2008). "Il Marchese, la moflie, l'amante: Ecco la chiave scientifica di un memorabile delitto" [The Marquis, the wife, the lover: Here is the scientific key of a memorable crime]. L'Attimo Fuggente (in Italian). Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ "Last keeper of Italy's orgy island dies". Wanted in Rome. 28 December 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ a b Pennacchioli, Sauro (1 September 2019). "Il Marquese Casati Stampa dava la moglie a tutti" [The Marquess Casati Stampa was giving his wife to everyone]. Giornale Pop (in Italian). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ "Foreign Currency Units per 1 U.S. Dollar, 1950-2018" (PDF). Pacific Exchange Rate Service. 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ "Value of 1970 US Dollars today". Inflation Tool. 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ a b Leccese, Domenico (30 August 2020). "Sesso, tradimenti e voyerismo: l'omicidio-suicidio dei marchesi Casati Stampa" [Sex, betrayals and voyeurism: the murder-suicide of the marquess Casati Stampa]. Le Cronache Lucane (in Italian). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ Selvaggio, Maria Pia (2020). Il delitto di via Puccini [The Via Puccini crime] (in Italian) (1st ed.). 2000diciassette. ISBN 978-8831243216.
- ^ Scarico, Regina Ada (4 August 2018). "Il delitto di Via Puccini, Casati - Stampa - Fallarino, diventa un film" [The crime of via Puccini, Casati - Stampa - Fallarino, becomes a film]. Cronache della Campania (in Italian). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ Amante, Davide (2020). L'affaire Casati Stampa. DMA International. ISBN 978-8894315646.
- ^ Bernasconi, Francesca (12 July 2022). "'Si amavano, ma poi lui...'. Così il 'candaulesimo' divenne delitto" ['They loved each other, but then he...'. Thus 'candaulism' turned into a crime]. Il Giornale (in Italian). Retrieved 7 October 2023.
- ^ "Il delitto di Via Puccini: il lato oscuro della Dolce Vita" [The Via Puccini crime: the dark side of the Dolce Vita]. Associazione Culturale Calipso (in Italian). 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ Marchetti, Silvia (30 July 2019). "Zannone: Italy's forbidden 'orgy island'". CNN. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
External links
edit- Kington, Tom (7 February 2010). "Memoirs shed new light on La Dolce Vita era of drugs, sex and debauchery". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2021.