Il Mostro Di Firenze -the Monster Of Florence- ... -

All eight double murders were linked by the use of the same weapon: a .22-caliber Beretta pistol firing Winchester "series H" copper-jacketed bullets.

American author Douglas Preston teamed up with Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to write The Monster of Florence (2008). The book criticized the official investigation so sharply that the Italian government briefly jailed Spezi and banned Preston from the country. An Unsolved Legacy

The Monster did not just kill; he collected. He removed pubic triangles and, in later murders, entire breasts and vaginal sections. Forensic pathologists noted the cuts showed a knowledge of anatomy—suggesting the killer might have been a surgeon, a butcher, or a hunter. Il Mostro Di Firenze -The Monster Of Florence- ...

The most dramatic twist came in . Cold-case specialist Ugo Ricci, acting on orders from the Florence prosecutor’s office, conducted DNA tests that definitively proved that Stefano Mele was not the biological father of Barbara Locci’s son, Natalino. The real father was revealed to be a previously obscure figure: Giovanni Vinci , the eldest brother of the suspected Sardinian Vinci family.

: Claudio Stefanacci and Pia Rontini are killed in a woodland area. Rontini suffers severe surgical mutilations matching previous victims. All eight double murders were linked by the

The investigation into the Monster of Florence is a case study in how not to run a criminal inquiry. For eighteen years, Italian magistrates chased ghosts, Satanic cults, and aristocratic vendettas, often ignoring forensic reality.

This discovery forces a fundamental re-examination of the first murder. "Did the killer know who Natalino's father was on the night of the Signa crime? Why spare the little boy?" The answers could reshape the entire understanding of the case. An Unsolved Legacy The Monster did not just

In July 2024, Italian hematologist Lorenzo Iovino, working as a consultant for the families of the final French victims, announced a stunning discovery. Analyzing a bullet designated "V3" — found embedded in a tent cushion at the Mauriot–Kraveichvili murder scene — Iovino identified an unknown DNA profile. Crucially, this DNA appears partially on bullets from two other double murders: the 1983 slaying of the German students (Rüsch and Meyer) and the 1984 murder of Stefanacci and Rontini. "The DNA of the assassin may have been impressed while he chambered the bullets," Iovino explained. The unknown profile does not match any known suspects, victims, or even the ballistic experts who handled the evidence. Prosecutors are now considering reopening the case.