Death and the Dolce Vita: The Dark Side of Rome in the 1950s

On 9 April 1953 an attractive twenty-one-year-old woman went missing from her family home in Rome. Thirty-six hours later her body was found washed up on a neglected beach at Torvaianica, forty kilometers from the Italian capital. Some said it was suicide; others, a tragic accident. The short life and tragic death of Wilma Montesi was played out against a fascinating backdrop. By the 1950s Italy, in the wake of Mussolini's brutal Fascist government, was in the process of reinventing itself. And with the help of Hollywood stars such as Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, it seemed to be succeeding. Suddenly Italy, Rome in particular, was the most glamorous place on earth. But the murder of Wilma Montesi exposed a darker side of Roman life—a life of corruption, cover-ups and carnal pleasures.