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Beretta automatic pistol, 1915, cal. 9, Steyr
Steyr automatic pistol, mod. 1912,
cal. 9
Pocket revolver, cal. 7.65
The Vizzardelli case
MURDERER: William Vizzardelli
VICTIMS: Don Belardinelli, Don Andrea Bruno, Livio Delfini, Bruno Veneziani, Giuseppe Bernardini
PLACE AND DATES: Sarzana, from 4 January 1937 to 29 December 1938
MATERIAL EVIDENCE: two axes, a revolver, two pistols
PROVENANCE: Genoa, Juvenile Court, 1949
William Vizzardelli, son of the Director of the Sarzana Registry Office, was fourteen when he committed his first murder. On 4 January 1937 he used an axe to murder Don Belardinelli, the Headmaster of the Casa delle Missioni school where he was taking a technical course. His motive was revenge, for a slap he had been given. The second victim was the school janitor, Don Andrea Bruno, who, quite by chance, had witnessed the first crime. The next two victims were Livio Delfini and Bruno Veneziani, whose bodies were found in the countryside on the morning of 20 August 1938. They had been shot with two different guns: a 9-calibre and a 7.65-calibre. This time the motive was that Delfini knew William Vizzardelli’s secret, and was blackmailing him. Veneziani was there by chance, as Delfini’s chauffeur. Vizzardelli’s fifth victim was the caretaker at the Registry Office, Giuseppe Bernardini, murdered with an axe on 29 December 1938. The handle of the axe was stained with a sugary substance. The sum of 12,949 lire and 35 cents was missing from the safe in the office, which had been opened without any sign of having been forced. The investigators summoned the Director of the Registry Office, Guido Vizzardelli, William’s father, who had called the Carabinieri twice the previous evening: the first time to report that his son was missing, and the second time to inform them that William had come back in the middle of the night. William, who had recently shown his schoolmates an axe similar to the one found at the scene of the last crime and also to the one used for the murders at the school, became the prime suspect. What really nailed him were the bloodstained keys to the safe, found in his pocket. Pressed by police officers during questioning, he confessed coolly to all his crimes. The trial commenced in Genoa on 19 September 1940. Found guilty of the five murders and being of sound mind, he was exempt from the death penalty because he was too young. On 23 September he was sentenced to life imprisonment, a sentence confirmed by the Court of Appeal in January 1941. He remained in prison until 29 July 1968, when he was pardoned by President Saragat. On the evening of 11 August 1973, at the age of 51, he slashed his arm and throat, and bled to death.
