Giulia Tofana was a prolific female serial killer about whose background there seems to be little to no information. Giulia was born in the 17th century in Palermo, Italy. Growing up, she spent a lot of her time around apothecaries, and learnt to deal with medicine and how to make potions. It is also suspected she learnt potion-making from her mother, who was executed for killing her husband. Anyway, that is where her shenanigans start.
Not long after, she brewed up a poison, named Aqua Tofana after herself, laced with lead, arsenic, and belladonna. Belladonna was widely used during the Renaissance as a beauty product, and so it further helped to sell her terrible concoction off as cosmetics. They're just cosmetics. Yeah, sure. A few doses of Aqua Tofana was enough to kill. It induced a slow death, making it seem a death of natural causes.
Now this is the 17th century we're talking about, there was no justice for women. Giulia glides in like a Messiah in the lives of women who were married young, beaten, tortured, stuck in abusive marriages, and offers them a quick way out - murder. The women would buy the poison in the form of powder in a beauty product container, or sometimes in vials, as if it was ointment. She gained popularity amongst the women of low status, and began to get many clients. You'll be surprised to hear that little miss thing Giulia, along with her daughter, operated her poison business under the guise of cosmetics for 50 years. Fifty goddamn years. All for it to be ruined over a bowl of soup. A lady who had bought Aqua Tofana mixed a few drops with her husband's soup, but got cold feet, and backed out at the last minute. She was beaten and made to confess. Now Giulia, having heard of what had gone down, went into a church to seek refuge. Meanwhile, a rumor made rounds that Giulia had poisoned the water supply. She was taken in for questioning by the police, and confessed to killing around 600 men in Rome alone. Giulia and her daughter were executed in July of 1659.
As horrific as her crimes might have been, there still seems to be virtue in her intentions. I want to feel bad about her murders, though I couldn't help but smile when I read her story. Be stuck in an abusive marriage where you could possibly die, or live and kill an evil man? Was Giulia a vicious killer, or a saviour? You tell me.
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