Aqua Tofana- A Deadly makeup which has killed over 600 men in 17th century, Italy.
Meet Guilia Tofana who poisoned makeup which killed over 600 men throughout Italy
Aqua Tofana was a deadly poison which widely used in Naples, Perugia, and Rome. Italy, during the early 17th century.
Guilia Tofana, from Palermo, was running a huge business with her daughter for over 50 years selling the deadly concoction(Aqua Tofana) helping married women to kill their Husbands.
It was a time when women didn't have any rights or protection, it was a time when domestic violence or marital rapes were not a thing there was no law against it, women were objects, they just have to look pretty and follow the rules and regulation that men have decided. again divorce was not a thing, husbands beat their wives and didn't face any consequences and poor wives didn't have an option or place where they seek justice from but some of them made an option and that is to kill their husbands.
Who was Guilia Tofana?
Guilia Tofana was possibly the daughter of Teofania Di'Adamo, who was executed in July 1633, because she murdered her husband,(believed that she was the Inventor of the poison known as "Aqua Tofania") Guilia was described as being beautiful and had a keen interest in medicines, also spend a lot of time with apothecaries, and that is where, she learned how to make her own concoction and her own medicines, but people believe that she was actually learning how to make the poison with the help of her mother's secret recipe.
she was very sympathetic towards the "low-status women" who were being tortured by their husbands and trapped in abusive marriages so she decided to help and get them out of their miseries so she made her own poison.
Aqua Tofana
It mostly contains arsenic and lead and possibly Belladonna, It was a colorless and tasteless liquid, which easily get mixed with any kind of liquid like tea or wine and can be served during meals.
its four to six drops were "sufficient to destroy a man".
poising of Aqua Tofana can go unnoticed as the substance is clear and have no taste, it is slow-acting and the symptoms resemble those of progressive disease,
The first drop of Aqua Tofana develop cold-like symptoms, second dose symptoms can be one like having some kind of flu, the person becomes very ill by the third dose, and the fourth dose would kill the victim.
It was a slow process that gives the victims, time to get prepare for their deaths, Including writing a will.
Guilia's Poison Business
so the product Aqua Tofana looks like a normal, typical woman's cosmetic product that no husband or no person would ever suspect of being deadly poison. so she sells Aqua Tofana mostly to the women who are being tortured and wanted to get free from their husband's trap, soon she became a popular name amongst the fellow ladies as a go-to friend, and very much trusted,
so to sell the product she opened her cosmetics counter where women came to buy cosmetics but the majority come to buy Aqua Tofana, also it contains belladonna which is used in most of the cosmetic products making Aqua Tofana look like a normal cosmetic product. she also prescribes the dosage, like how many drops and how to be cautious while giving the dose.
she also told her clients to ask for post-mortem examinations after the death of their husbands which result in nothing and they could never trace a thing and the widow will be considered 100% innocent and nobody could blame her. also she trained her clients to act in a certain way like being worried or having anxiety or being sad for their husband's condition before and after they die. so that nobody could be suspicious of them.
Her Aqua Tofana was her possession and it really worked for her because she did the business for almost 50 years with her daughter.
Climax
obviously! all good things come to an end someday.
It was that time when her business was flourishing all over Rome, one of her new customers, came to buy the Aqua Tofana, she was also guided by Guilia about dosage and how to do the work cautiously.
after that, the lady went home she puts two drops of the liquid in her husband's soup during dinner.
but when the husband was reaching out for the bowl of soup, she realized that she couldn't do it, she cannot murder her own husband, she went in self-realization and she stopped him, her husband got infuriated and turned to her and beat the lady and asked the reason that why she stopped him from eating the soup because at that time he already had a feeling that there is something in the soup and he beat her till she confesses after that he dragged her to the authorities of Rome where she was forced to tell about the aqua Tofana and about Guilia. after that the words started coming out, all over the Rome people were talking about it and when it reaches to Guilia, she ends up packing all her stuff and she goes searching for some other place to stay.
she ends up going to a church and asked the church for sanctuary and they granted it to her.
soon the rumors were out and the major one was that Guilia had poisoned the water supply of the city.
so people were livid and they wanted Giulia dead .soon it was out that Guilia was hiding in a church so the mob of people went to the church and they dragged her out.
so after that, the authorities came and Guilia ends up confessing the number that she remembered, she has killed over 600 men between 1633 and 1651 and it was believed that number was even higher, also authorities took out from her about some of the client's name, not all of her as she couldn't remember everyone's name,
July 1659 Guilia was executed along with her daughter and three employees. some of her clients also get punished and some of them managed to escape by playing dumb saying that they didn't know that they were purchasing poison, they bought Aqua Tofana for cosmetic purposes and they had no idea.
It was hard to determine who was the actual client of aqua Tofana and who bought it thinking that it was a cosmetic product. soon some of her other clients were also executed outright and others were bricked into dungeons of the holy office.
Long after Guilia's death, the Legends of Aqua Tofana continued...
A complete description of Aqua Tofan as a slow poison was appeared in "Chamber's Journal" 1890.
so that was the whole story of Gulia Tofana and her deadly concoction.
also, tell me what you think about this lady and her choices of making and selling the poison in the comment section below also don't forget to subscribe for more such content...
Comments
Post a Comment
If you have any queries,let me know