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found in her stomach) and made a foot bath in the sea to relieve a nagging irritation at the heels of which she suffered for some time. To do so, Montesi would take off her shoes and socks and, most likely, also skirt and suspenders, and then she dived in the water where she fainted and finally drowned. The coroner reconnected her sudden illness to the fact that the woman was
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317:: Ostia is around 20 km from Torvaianica, too far to travel on foot, especially by someone not familiar with the area. The owner of a kiosk selling postcards located near the beach at Ostia claimed to have spoken with a young woman apparently resembling Montesi, who had bought an illustrated postcard and intended to send it to her boyfriend in Potenza.
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by the fact that make-up was still on her face and nail varnish on her fingernails intact); later, however, another doctor, Professor
Pellegrini, said that the presence of sand in her intimate parts could be explained only as a consequence of violence. No traces of drugs or alcohol were found in her body.
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The distance between Ostia (the presumed last sighting of
Montesi) and the point of the discovery was justified by saying that the body had been moved by complex combinations of sea currents. An autopsy revealed that the young woman was a virgin and that she had not experienced violence (as evidenced
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The body was found by a labourer, Fortunato
Bettini, who was having breakfast at the beach. The body was lying on its back on the shore, the head immersed in water. The young woman was partially dressed and the clothes were soaked with water: she was no longer wearing her shoes, skirt, stockings, and
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The lawyer of Marco
Cesarini Sforza, Giuseppe Sotgiu (former president of the provincial administration of Rome and member of the PCI) made an agreement with his colleague, and on May 31 Cesarini Sforza recanted his statements. He poured 50,000 Lire to charity to "House of fraternal friendship for
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The body was brought to the
Institute of Forensic Medicine in Rome, where an autopsy was conducted: the doctors claimed that the probable cause of death was a "syncope due to a foot bath," claiming that, most likely, Montesi took the chance of the trip to the beach to eat ice cream (remains were
407:: an article published on the May 5 told how the young man had brought to the police station the missing garments of the murdered girl. Identification with Piero Piccioni was a fact known to all journalists, but no one had ever revealed the identity to the general public. In early May,
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From a reconstruction of
Montesi's final hours, it emerged that the young woman had not returned home for dinner on the evening of April 9, contrary to her habits. Her mother, along with her other daughter, Wanda, had spent the afternoon at the cinema watching
307:, adding that she would probably go out for a walk. After returning home, the two women noticed that Wilma was not there; strangely she had left home without her identification and some jewellery, gifts from her boyfriend she usually wore when she went out.
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published a cartoon satire in which a garter belt, held in the beak of a pigeon ("Piccione" in
Italian), was brought to the police station, a clear reference to the politician and crime. The news caused uproar because it was published shortly before the
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When the news of the discovery was disclosed, newspapers came out with extensive articles, although the investigators had banned the press access to the mortuary where the body of the victim was kept. However a reporter of Rome's
69:, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Knowledge (XXG).
289:, Fabrizio Menghini, managed to gain access and to see the body. The description he provided appeared in the paper the next day and it allowed her father, Rodolfo Montesi, to show up to identify the body.
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Even under interrogation, Cesarini Sforza never directly quoted the name of the source from which officially the news came, saying only that it came from "the faithful environments of
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Saturday, April 11, 1953, the day before Easter, the body of 21 year-old Wilma
Montesi was discovered on the beach of Torvajanica, near Rome. She had been missing since April 9.
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Although, for the moment, scandal for the
Christian Democrats was excluded, the Piccioni name had been mentioned and later would return to prominence.
270:, 1952). Everyone described her as reserved and noble, intent on finishing the trousseau for her forthcoming wedding, planned for the next Christmas.
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Wilma
Montesi was born in 1932 in Rome, where she lived in via Tagliamento 76. At the time of her disappearance, she was engaged to a policeman from
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434:(PCI), owner of the newspaper and sole "political" beneficiary of the scandal, refused to recognize the work of the journalist, who was accused of "
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Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
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reporter Fabrizio Menghini, who had followed the case from the outset. The idea, however, was echoed by almost all local and national newspapers.
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The caretaker of the building in which the Montesis lived claimed to have seen her going out at around 5:30, and not to have seen her again.
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whom she was about to marry. She was considered to be very beautiful and longed to enter the world of cinema and show-business at Rome's
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Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Knowledge (XXG) article at ]; see its history for attribution.
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The accident theory was considered reliable by the police, who closed the case. However, newspapers were skeptical.
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The Montesi scandal : the death of Wilma Montesi and the birth of the paparazzi in Fellini's Rome
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591:"'Finally Dawn' Review: Italy's Starry CinecittĂ Studios Hosts a Dull, Black Dahlia-Like Mystery"
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The Montesi Scandal: The Death of Wilma Montesi and the Birth of the Paparazzi in Fellini's Rome
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and stated that Wilma had declined to join them because she was not keen in films featuring
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209:(3 February 1932 – 9 April 1953) was an Italian woman whose body was discovered near
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On 24 May 1953, an article by Marco Cesarini Sforza, published in the communist magazine
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to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is
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This hypothesis was shared by prestigious national newspapers such as
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Some witnesses claimed to have seen Montesi on the train from Rome to
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Death and the dolce vita : the dark side of Rome in the 1950s
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freed from prison," and in exchange Piccioni dropped the charge.
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The name of "blond" had been attributed to the young Piccioni by
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Death and the Dolce Vita: The Dark Side of Rome in the 1950s
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Even the journalist's father, a professor of philosophy at
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The exclusion of suicide option and the closure of the case
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Piero Piccioni sued the journalist and the editor of
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by Karen Pinkus (University of Chicago Press, 2003)
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a machine-translated version of the Italian article.
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666:(2005), Wilma Montesi, vergine e "martire".
350:On May 4, the Naples monarchist newspaper
274:garter belt, and her handbag was missing.
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687:Was halten Sie vom Tod der Wilma Montesi?
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620:by Stephen Gundle (Canongate, 2011)
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509:List of solved missing person cases
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228:(son of deputy prime minister,
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742:Missing person cases in Italy
589:Debruge, Peter (2023-09-01).
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696:Helmer von LĂĽtzelburg
414:1953 general election
343:The press involvement
232:and lover of actress
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454:Francesco Carnelutti
398:Christian Democrats
360:Corriere della Sera
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366:Paese Sera
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