Montesi, Wilma (1932–1953)

Italian model whose unsolved murder created a political scandal. Born in Rome, Italy, in 1932; died in Rome in April 1953.

The murder of 21-year-old Italian model Wilma Montesi, whose body washed up on a beach near Ostia in April 1953, set off a chain of events that nearly destroyed the government of Italian prime minister Mario Scelba. It was initially presumed that she had drowned through some sad accident, despite the fact that some of her clothing was missing when she was found. Over six months later, however, a local newspaper editor published allegations that unnamed members of a certain elite men's club in Rome had been complicit in her accidental death through a drug overdose. A number of the club's members, as well as its manager, Ugo Montagna, sued for libel. What they had perhaps not expected were the witnesses testifying for the defense, who included Montagna's former mistress, Adriana Caglio . She painted a picture of illicit drug use and casual sex indulged in by highly placed members of society, named Montagna as a drug dealer, and claimed that Gian Piero Piccioni, whose father was the minister of foreign affairs, had killed Wilma Montesi. She further stated that she had accompanied Piccioni and Montagna to police headquarters several nights after Montesi's death and waited outside while they spent an hour within the building. "Now everything's fixed up," she claimed Montagna had said when they rejoined her. Rome's chief of police resigned after her testimony; the minister of foreign affairs' proffered resignation was not accepted by the government. When Piccioni testified that Wilma Montesi had tried to engage him in drug smuggling, the libel trial was put aside for further investigation of the criminal allegations.

Exhumation and closer examination of Montesi's body proved that she had indeed drowned, while struggling against some person who had held her head underwater. Piccioni was charged with manslaughter, Montagna with complicity, and the now ex-police chief, along with Caglio and a number of other people, with obstruction of justice. The investigation lasted for three more years and resulted in 92 volumes of evidence. The prosecution could not, however, prove exactly who had killed Wilma Montesi. Despite the vast corruption uncovered by the investigation, when the trial was held in Venice in 1957 it resulted in acquittal for all but Adriana Caglio, who received a suspended sentence. Montesi's murder, and the circumstances surrounding it, remain a mystery.