Soap Maker of Correggio

Leonardo Cianciulli was already struggling with her life when she learned her oldest son Giuseppe was enlisting in the Italian Army…in 1939. Unfortunately, she had already lost 13 children and was terrified her favorite son was next. Fueled by superstition and paranoia, Cianciulli found the only logical solution, human sacrifice. The victims were then turned into tea cakes and soap which would be gifted to friends and neighbors. When authorities began to look at Giuseppe for the crimes, she finally confessed to everything. Cianciulli was convicted of the murders of 3 of her neighbors and sentenced to 30 years prison and 3 years in a criminal asylum where she died in 1970. There’s nothing like a mother’s love.