Marisa INGROSSOBARI - It seems incredible, but the largest "mass grave" south of bandits that exists in the world is located in Piedmont, in the bowels of the Museum of Criminal Anthropology, "Cesare Lombroso" University of Turin. Few people know, in fact, that diligent medical and military prisons for years, have sent to Cesare Lombroso (controversial pioneer of criminological studies) the body or at least the head of the robbers, so he could study them. These are men and women killed in battle by soldiers and policemen who died or in jail or sentenced to capital and died at the hands of the Executioner. Lombroso studied them, measured them, dissected them, to try to prove his weird theory of "criminal in nature." He was convinced that there was a link between the shape of a human being and his propensity to commit crimes. A theory that we now know to be totally unfounded. At the end of 1800, however, seemed plausible, and so unify Italy contributed to the researches of "scientist." Lombroso, however, was criminally messy. When he died he left a catalog of those remains and, even today, the eve of the reopening of the museum, scheduled for November 27, you do not know to whom they belong. Skulls and other parts of the body of bandits (Mixed with those of criminals and the mentally ill), lie in a sort of "mass grave" set for scientifici.Silvano Montaldo, who is the curator of the "Catalogue Museum Lombroso," besides an associate professor of social history of the nineteenth century to 'University of Turin, said: "We have skulls, but we do not know who was the owner. I believe that there are 500 but we know the story of a 1% of these skulls. Sometimes there is a number or sign on but he (ie, Lombroso, ed) is not cataloged, do not file. Our hope - adds Montaldo - that is, when rearranging the store, we put a little 'order thanks to donations documentary the heirs. There are many interesting papers, such as a letter from a doctor of Oristano, accompanying a skull that was sent to Lombroso. "" The human remains of all kinds will be a thousand - Giancarla Malerba says the Department of Anatomy, Pharmacology and Medicine Terms of the University of Turin - and, when the museum reopens, some skulls will be on display, but obviously we can not dedicate a wing to banditry. We will continue to do inspections - says the researcher - but perhaps not always be the identity of those findings. Because maybe the reference was lost or written on the skull. " "Lombroso - explains Malerba - you wrote about, in pencil or ink. But many words are illegible because the ink that was too light. And then depending on your point of the skull in which there was written. However, some of these skulls will be presented to the public in closets of epoch. "What a sad end for those that southern insurgents, loyal to the Bourbons and the Catholic Church, began to fire and the dream of a peaceful conquest of the Piedmont South And to say that it was the skull of a robber to shoot in the 'light' in Cesare Lombroso. The robber in question was called and Joseph Villella was from Catanzaro. Suspicion of robbery and theft and fire of a recidivist, Villella was jailed. There, the Lombroso found and subjected him to visit medical. Then, when the Calabrian died in prison, was in November 1872, the professor took him from Verona the autopsy. Villella's skull was discovered that where there should have been the 'occiput', there was instead a "median occipital fossa. Quell'anomalia (in fact, frequent and meaningless) could be the reason he sought the source from which sprang the "nature of the offender," the physical detail that characterized the applicant criminali.Lombroso spent his entire life (he died in 1909 ) to cut, measure and store, the bodies of those who had trouble with the law. He had a passion for their guns (especially those made by hand) for the products fantasy (such as graffiti and drawings created behind bars), for their tattoos, and for clothing. So, on November 27, visitors to the Museum of Criminal Anthropology, "Cesare Lombroso" could see several items that belonged to Briganti, as the dress, hat and gun in the robber Antonio Gasparoni trombone (called Gasparone). During the early nineteenth century was the most famous bandit of the Papal States. It was a big man, strong fiber, survived more than 45 years in prison unification. The skull will be exposed because of poor Villella Lombroso granted him a "special treatment": he made sure that posterity could identify him, granted him the tribute of the living, the "memory". Finally, the curators of the Museum ensure that what remains of the two robbers will be placed not far away from the skeleton of Cesare Lombroso.
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