L'Italo-Americano

ing their headquarters in Logan, New Jersey to pro- vide their traditional recipes to Americans. Back at Corso Mazzini, visitors like to stop at house number 11. There, they soon notice a pharmacy but noth- ing's special about it. So they begin to peruse the facade of t h e b u i l d i n g . T h e y m u s t h a v e b e e n t o l d t h a t t h e "Soapmaker of Correggio" had lived there. Dubbed that way by the post-war press, Leonarda Cianciulli was neither an artist nor a won- derful woman. Her original apartment was torn apart a l o n g t i m e a g o . I t h a d required a fully gutted reno- vation. She was a female ser- ial killer, the first in Italy. She exhibited diabolical cru- elty without ever seeking redemption. Afflicted with dissociative psychosis, she m u r d e r e d t h r e e w o m e n f r o m C o r r e g g i o b e t w e e n 1939 and 1940. "During the murder trial after WWII in 1946, the prosecutor proved that she killed for money," s a y s F r a n c e s c a M a n z i n i . After putting her victims to d e a t h , s h e d i s s e c t e d t h e bodies. Cianciulli was born down south in the Irpinia region in 1894. She raised four chil- dren and survived seventeen abortions. "She moved to Correggio in 1930 when her husband was sent to work for the local registry office," explains Francesca Manzini. She was not poor at all. She was a housewife from a mid- d l e - c l a s s h o u s e h o l d w h o s o l d v i n t a g e c l o t h e s a n d antiques and offered palm- istry services. "But she had planned to become richer and richer," says Francesca. H e r m a i d t e s t i f i e d i n c o u r t a s a w i t n e s s a n d Cianciulli spent the rest of her life locked up in a judi- c i a r y m e n t a l h o s p i t a l i n Pozzuoli where she died in 1970. "Also her maid ended up in a psychiatric asylum because she went crazy after what she saw in Cianciulli's home," remarks Francesca. In her memoir, Cianciulli described putting chopped body parts into a cauldron. She added caustic soda to m a k e s o a p s a n d i n s o m e cases sugar, chocolate, milk, and eggs to make pastries. And she served them to the ladies who knocked at her d o o r , s h e w r o t e . B u t h e r hard-to-believe recollection o f t h e m a c a b r e f a c t s w a s proven to be false. D e s p i t e t h o s e h e l l i s h aspects of life in Correggio in the 1940s, today the place remains a kind of heaven. C o r r e g g i o - b o r n r o c k e r Luciano Ligabue released several songs inspired by his hometown. His ballads pro- vide a powerful snapshot of the rural land that accom- m o d a t e s w o r l d - l e a d i n g industries in the plastic and automotive sectors such as Spal and Corghi. The latter invented and patented the world's first tire charger and is a historical Ferrari suppli- er. A L i g a b u e h i t , C e r t e Notti, describes the freedom of the road, the nocturnal mood of Correggio. It goes: "Some nights the car is hot /And where it takes you is up to her /Some nights the road doesn't matter / It's feeling that you are driving that counts…" In another famous song, Correggio is defined as a Piccola Città Eterna or Little Eternal City. A s w e l l , L i g a b u e p o r - trayed the area through a collection of short stories about his formative years, c o m i n g o f a g e i n r u r a l Correggio. The title of the book is Fuori e Dentro Il Borgo. The pages are popu- lated by colorful characters and their quirky stories. The successful songwriter has been often inspired by the work of another illustri- ous son of Correggio, Pier Vittorio Tondelli, a post- modern writer who died of Aids in 1991 aged just 36. He burst upon the literary scene with the "on the road" sto- ries of Altri Libertini (1980; Other Libertines). His career culminated with the reflec- tions on grief, sickness, and death in Camere Separate (1989; Separate Rooms). In the months leading up to his death, he returned to the Catholic faith. The Palazzo dei Principi houses a center for the study of Tondelli's work (Centro di D o c u m e n t a z i o n e P i e r Vittorio Tondelli) and his personal library. Nearby, the Parco della M e m o r i a i s t h e t o w n ' s breathing space: a large park dedicated to the fallen of WWI and WWII. The urban forest features ornamental ponds, its trees projecting the light and the shadows of Correggio. LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE The Virgin's Assumption, a fresco by Antonio Allegri (Il Correggio) (Photo: Jozef Sedmak/Dreamstime) Continued from page 32 THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 34 L'Italo-Americano Palazzo dei Principi's courtyard (Photo: ©COMUNEDICORREGGIO)

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