A COURT of Northern Italy will shortly begin the trial of Leonarda Chianculli charged with having murdered three of her women friends. Using an axe, a saw and a hammer, Leonarda is alleged to have cut up the bodies and to have converted them into soap by boiling the remains in a great iron cauldron containing a solution of caustic soda. While in prison, she is reported to have penned a long account of her life and alleged crimes entitled “Confessions of an Embittered Soul” in which she described how she used an axe to murder one of her friends, Francesca Soavi.

With details reminiscent of witchcraft of the Middle Ages, this account is reported to relate how Leonarda prepared beverages and cakes to offer to her intended victims. “I used to mix human blood with chocolate,” she is reported to have written, “and added requisite flavour of tangerine, vanilla or cinnamon.”

[Meanwhile, as reported from Tokyo,] Emperor Hirohito celebrates his 45th birthday on Monday [April 29] in Tokyo as an ordinary mortal, reports APA correspondent. There will be no parades, military displays or banquets as in the past. He plans to visit his ancestral shrine and then dine with the princes.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2021