In a quiet Italian town, there was a woman everyone trusted. She baked. She welcomed people in. She was the kind of person no one questioned. And then people started disappearing. When she finally confessed, it wasn’t just what she had done… it was why.

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🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

Weird Italy - Leonarda Cianciulli, the Soapmaker of Correggio https://weirditaly.com/2013/04/25/leonarda-cianciulli-the-soapmaker-of-correggio/

All That's Interesting - The Chilling Story of Leonarda Cianciulli https://allthatsinteresting.com/leonarda-cianciulli

Utterly Interesting - The Crimes of Leonarda Cianciulli https://www.utterlyinteresting.com/post/the-crimes-of-leonarda-cianciulli-the-soap-maker-of-correggio

Cardinal Points Online - Soap Maker of Correggio https://cardinalpointsonline.com/cardinal-sins-soap-maker-of-correggio-murders-three-women/

Medium - Mother Dearest: The Crimes of Leonarda Cianciulli https://medium.com/@rocknrollgeek1975/mother-dearest-the-crimes-of-leonarda-cianciulli

Museo Criminologico, Rome - The Correggio Soap-Maker http://www.museocriminologico.it/correggio_uk.htm

Life in Italy - Italy During the Second World War https://lifeinitaly.com/italy-second-world-war/

History Rise - Italy Under Mussolini https://historyrise.com/italy-under-mussolini-fascism-propaganda-and-world-war-ii/

Chapman University - Italian Society During World War II https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=history_books

Working Class History - Italian Resistance https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e77-80-italian-resistance/

Baltimore Sun - "Rendered Her Friends to Wax, She Says" (April 28, 1946) Referenced in multiple secondary sources above - original print archive only.

📚 BOOKS

The Curse: A Shocking True Story of Superstition, Human Sacrifice and Cannibalism - Ryan Green (2019)

Confessioni di Un'Anima Amareggiata (Confessions of a Bitter Soul) - Leonarda Cianciulli

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