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Lo Smemorato di Collegno
Starting in Turin in 1926, what was probably the most famous and controversial"case" to appear in the italian papers during the late 1920s soon assumed national proportions. It is generally remembered as the "Bruneri-Canella" affair or, with its more popular nickname, as the case of the "Smemorato di Collegno" ("The Collegno Amnesiac").
Here's the facts,
march 10 1926
- A man "of the apperent age of 45" is arrested on a charge
of theft in the Turin Cemetery. He has no documents and , after pleading
innocent ("I'm not a crook"), he says he can't remember his identity nor
his past.
In his pocket a postcard is found from "his affectionate
Giuseppino".
Clearly an amnesiac, he is taken to the Collegno asylum -
inmate number 44.170.
He seems quite cultured and well groomed (he quotes
Ovid and Nietzche), but his diary is often plagued by childish spelling mistakes,
and he shows dramathic mood swings and can't remember a thing about himself.
january 1927
- the direction of Collegno asylum decides to take the
case to the press. The man's photograph is published in the major national
newspaper, and the "Smemorato di Collegno" nickname is created. The case
gets quite a bit of press coverage.
february 26 1927 -
"The case is closed": Giulia Canella, daughter to
a wealthy landowner, states officially that the "Smemorato" is her long lost
husband, Giulio Canella, philosophy and pedagogy teacher, director of the
"Normal School" in Verona, contributor to the "Rivista di Filosofia
Neoscolastica", reported missing in 1916 during the war. They have a son
called Giuseppe (or more familiarly Giuseppino).
The identification comes after many visits to the asylum by family members and a brief letter exchange. According tho the amnesiac, seeing his family has awakened some kind of faint memory within himself.
march 6 1927
- "Giulio Canella" arrested; according to police investigation,
he is Mario Bruneri, a small time crook from Turin and former typesetter
in a small printing shop, wanted on various charges of theft and swindle.
He has a wife, Rosa Negro, and a son called Giuseppe (or more
familiarly Beppino).
He supposedly ran away from his family and his duty
(another charge, by the way).
She, too, with many other witnesses, positively
identifies the man as her husband.
The case is re-opened, and it's a feast
for journalists everywhere.
The public opinion splits up between "Bruneriani" and "Canelliani", and the case is the talk of the day.
december 28
1927 The Court of Justice in Turin comes to a dead end,
despite the great number of witnesses, experts and other people involved,
or maybe because of them.
The amnesiac now states he is professor Canella,
but after all, the alternative is rather bleak.
The judges ask for a "State
Sentence", passing the case to a higher court.
november 5
1928 - the Civil Court in Turin comes to the conclusion that
the man, former inmate 44.170 in the Collegno Asylum, is Mario Bruneri.
Giulia Canella is once again a widow. She goes to the Appeal Court.
august 7 1929
- according to Turin Appeal Court, too, the man is Mario
Bruneri. The sentence is later invalidated, and the case passed to the Florence
Court.
march 1931
- according to Florence Appeal Court there's little doubt:
the man is Mario Bruneri, and he is jailed.
Set free after a short detention on grounds of good behaviour and ill health, the man finally leave Italy for Brazil together with Giulia Canella and the two children they had in 1928 and 1931.
"Professor Giulio Canella" died in Rio de Janeiro in 1941.
He never admitted being anybody else.
documents
surfaced only in 1960 show without a doubt that the
man was Mario Bruneri.
He sent a letter home from Collegno explaining
his escape from his family.
the exact
role of Giulia Canella in the whole story is still subject
to speculations to this day. Was she only the victim of Bruneri's final swindle,
or was she somehow in the know?
supernatural
explanations were of course proposed at the time of the
case and after by various mediums and spiritualists; the most popular
"explanation" placed the souls or memories of both men inside a single body
(Bruneri's or Canella's or someone else's altogether, that's another matter),
due to some kind of "twin methempsichosis".
It did not receive much credit.
some of the
experts' explanations presented in Court were rather outlandish
themselves, on the other hand. According to someone, the amnesiac was
Canella, thinking he was Bruneri and pretending he was Canella for fear of
being jailed.
