Monster of Florence

Monster of Florence, Italian serial killer or killers who murdered at least 16 people in the hills outside Florence between 1968 and 1985. Most of the victims were couples parked in cars in secluded areas. They were typically shot and stabbed, and in several cases the female victims were mutilated. The case inspired Thomas Harris’s novel Hannibal (1999).

The murders and suspects

The first known murders occurred in 1968, when a married woman and her lover—Barbara Locci and Antonio Lo Bianco, respectively—were fatally shot in a parked car near Florence by a mysterious killer whom the Italian media later dubbed Il Mostro di Firenze (“The Monster of Florence”). Locci’s husband, Stefano Mele, was convicted of the crime, but he was later released after it was determined that the gun was used in other murders that were committed while he was incarcerated.

In 1974 the killer attacked another couple, this time mutilating the body of the female victim. Two couples were murdered in a similar fashion in 1981, and during the next four years four more couples were killed. Public fear was intensified by the extremely gruesome nature of the crimes. In several cases the killer removed part of the female victim’s pubic area and one breast. During this time, authorities pursued what became known as the Sardinian trail, a reference to the ethnicity of the suspects: Francesco Vinci, a former lover of Locci, and several relatives of Mele. The men were arrested but later cleared after other murders were committed while they were in prison. The killings stopped in 1985.

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Famous Serial Killers

In 1994 Pietro Pacciani, an itinerant farm laborer with a history of violence and sexual assault, was convicted of murdering seven of the eight couples. Pacciani’s conviction was overturned, however, and a new trial was ordered. Police then began to suspect that the crimes had been committed by a group led by Pacciani, but he died before the second trial could begin. The men were dubbed “Snack Buddies” after one said that they just ate snacks together. Subsequently two of Pacciani’s alleged accomplices, Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti, were convicted of the murders. However, many people believe that the actual killer was never caught. Various theories have been proposed, and some believe the murders were the work of a satanic cult. In addition, it has been suggested that the Monster of Florence and the Zodiac Killer are the same person. The latter is an unidentified serial killer who is believed to have murdered at least five people in northern California between 1968 and 1969.

Books and documentaries

The Monster of Florence inspired numerous books and documentaries. In addition to the novel Hannibal, various nonfiction works were published, including The Monster of Florence (2006) by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi. In 2025 Netflix released a dramatized docuseries about the murders and investigation.