The delicious recipe made from bones and blood

Leonarda Cianciulli was considered the epitome of an Italian mother. No one suspected that she would go down in criminal history as the soap maker of Corregio. Leonarda Cianciulli was born on November 14, 1893, in Montella. After her father’s death, her mother, to whom she had no close relationship, remarried. Shortly afterwards, she attempted to take her own life, but was saved. When she fell in love with Raffaele Pansardi, her life seemed to take a happy turn. However, her mother did not accept her relationship with this man. Against her will, she married Raffaele Pansardi in 1914 at the age of 21 and moved with him to Lariano, whereupon her mother cursed her. In 1930, her house was destroyed in an earthquake, so they moved to Corregio, where Leonarda opened a small shop and worked as a fortune teller and matchmaker. Leonarda Cianciulli was extremely popular with friends and neighbors. She was considered a loving mother who watched over her children with eagle eyes. During her marriage, Leonarda Cianciulli was pregnant 17 times, but suffered three miscarriages and lost ten of her children in their youth. That is why she took special care of her four remaining children. Her eldest son, who studied in Milan, was her favorite child. When she heard that he was to be drafted into the military because of World War II, she was very concerned. A fortune teller had once prophesied that all her children would die. Leonarda Cianciulli, who was extremely superstitious, believed that only human sacrifice could protect her son. She found these sacrifices in three women who were her friends. Her first murder victim was the 70-year-old spinster and illiterate Faustina Setti, whom Leonarda asked to find her a husband. Leonarda claimed to have found one in Pula. Faustina Setti was to travel there to meet him. Before her departure, she visited Leonarda Cianciulli again, who wrote her postcards and letters. Faustina was supposed to post them upon her arrival so that her family and friends would not worry. But that never happened. Leonarda had given her wine to drink that was poisoned. She dragged Faustina Setti’s unconscious body to her closet, killed her with an axe, cut the body into nine pieces and collected the blood in a container. She threw the nine pieces into a pot and added 7 kilograms of caustic soda to make soap. She let the blood coagulate, dried it in the oven, ground it, and mixed it with flour, sugar, chocolate, milk, eggs, and margarine to bake a crispy cake. She loved to give this cake away to her neighbors and friends. She then sent Faustina Setti’s letters and postcards to avoid arousing suspicion. She began her second murder with Francesca Soavi, whom she promised a job at a girls’ school in Piacenza. When Francesca Soavi visited Leonarda on September 5, 1940, shortly before her departure, she had also written postcards and letters to her friends so that they would not worry. She suffered the same fate as her predecessor and was also turned into delicious tea cakes and fragrant soap. Leonarda Cianciulli’s last victim was the soprano Virginia Cacioppo, whom she promised a job with a theater agent in Florence. On September 30, 1940, she too was turned into soap and cake, which was the sweetest of all so far. But Virginia Cacioppo’s sister, Albertina Fanti, was suspicious about why her sister had disappeared so suddenly. She contacted the police in Correggio, her sister’s last place of residence. Since the other two victims had also been reported missing there, the police began searching for clues, which led them to Leonarda Cianciulli. When the police visited Leonarda Cianciulli, she confessed to the three murders. In 1946, she was put on trial in Reggio nell’Emilia. Since criminal psychologist Filippo Saporito attested to her partial insanity, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison and then 3 years in a mental institution. On October 15, 1970, she died of a stroke in the women’s prison in Pozzuoli. Even today, her artifacts from the series of murders can be admired in the Criminological Museum in Rome.