A true crime collectible series that reconstructs the most sensational criminal cases of 20th-century Italian history. Criminal minds that marked the pages of crime news from the last century, disturbing public conscience. Deviant personalities who were pursued, unmasked, and incriminated—sometimes unjustly—before forensic science, surveillance cameras, phone records, and the internet. A noir mapping that leaves no room for escape.

On Tuesday, October 22, Gianni Biondillo, Francesca Mogavero, and Alessandro Gorza will present the first two volumes of the Nero900 collection (published by Giunti Editore) on the GO stage: La saponificatrice di Correggio. Il caso Cianciulli and Il mostro di Roma. Il caso Girolimoni.

The Books:

The story of the Soap-Maker of Correggio has become so infamous that it has entered into legend: Leonarda Cianciulli, a middle-aged housewife with a husband and four children, allegedly murdered three women and, according to her, turned them into perfumed soap and cakes, which she offered to her neighbors and family. But how much is reality, and how much is the terrible invention of Leonarda herself? The facts are clear: between December 18, 1939, and November 30, 1940, the victims disappeared from the small town of Correggio; their bodies were never found. All suspicions pointed to Cianciulli, who confessed to being solely responsible: she died in a criminal asylum. And the cakes? And the soap? How much is truth, and how much is an intricate lie woven by the protagonist of this dark tale? Who really is Leonarda Cianciulli? A criminal or a madwoman? A generous mother or a bloodthirsty murderer? Francesca Mogavero retraces the story of the Soap-Maker with a fresh perspective, blending a gripping, unsettling narrative with excerpts from the memoir written by Leonarda herself. Be careful, the cauldron is boiling. We can only look inside.

Rome, 1924. Two shadows loom over the Eternal City: on one side, the Fascist wave that swept over the capital with the victory in the April 6 elections, the last multi-party elections before the dictatorship; on the other, in the working-class neighborhoods, in the filth along the Tiber, and in the grass of the semi-rural outskirts, a faceless monster kidnaps young girls. And even when a culprit is identified, the case will be far from solved. Amid brutal murders, manipulated investigations, political pressures, and thirst for revenge, the story of Gino Girolimoni continues to raise questions, both then and now. For while monsters do exist, we should not only look for them in our nightmares: some, the most dangerous, walk freely in the streets, wearing the distinguished clothes of elegant gentlemen. Others, the innocent ones, become monsters against their will, through gossip and the pages of newspapers. With a precise and sharp narrative, Alessandro Gorza guides us from the popular alleys to the halls of power, attempting to shed light on one of Italy's most notorious criminal cases, a long nightmare where nothing is as it seems. Best keep your eyes wide open.