by Dan Baird

Prevented this year from visiting Italy, we can still read about it. Stephen Gundle’s account of the Montesi case is a fine book on Italian society. Reading like a thriller, it has been called ‘an excellent account of the misdeeds of Europe’s most foxy political class’.

On 9th April 1953, 21-year old Wilma Montesi left her family home in Rome, and the next day was found dead on a beach outside the city. The police regarded her death as suicide, while her family claimed it was an accidental drowning. With press involvement, more theories followed.

The flourishing film industry had attracted star-struck young girls to Rome, many of whom were exploited and some murdered. Wilma’s death, some thought, should be included in the second group. Journalists investigating her possible murder found a world of extreme wealth, drug-fuelled parties, moral corruption, and links between politics and criminality.

The Montesi case is still unsolved but Gundle has well described what he calls ‘a very specific moment in the development of a deeply divided society, recently emerged from dictatorship.