Valentino Pesenti – The “Monster of Genoa”

In the 1970s and 1990s, a young man named Valentino Pesenti spread fear and terror in Genoa by committing four brutal murders, earning him the nickname “The Monster of Genoa.” Valentino Pesenti was born in 1962 in the Italian port city of Genoa, where he grew up in difficult circumstances. His childhood was marked by a poor relationship with his parents, especially his father. He attracted attention early on due to his criminal behavior. At only 14 years of age, his life took a deadly turn. On March 25, 1976, he killed 89-year-old Giovanna Grattarola, who worked as a companion for Countess Elisabetta Thellung. The murder was gruesome, as he massacred Elisabetta with various kitchen utensils, including knives and sticks. At first, the police were unsure whether a single individual could be responsible for the crime and suspected that homeless people from the area might also be involved in the murder. Headlines about the bloody crime scene in Genoa’s Carignano district were everywhere. “Bloody walls – murderer on the loose,” read the press headlines. Initially, suspicion fell on a 50-year-old painter who had been seen at the scene of the crime at the time of the murder. But the trail went cold. As so often happens, the case was quickly shelved by investigators. Just a few months later, on August 31, 1976, the body of 50-year-old Kuo Yuen Suo, a Chinese leather goods dealer, was found in his shop. He had been shot twice in the back. This case was also soon closed without any new leads or suspects. A man named Patrizio Saluzzo was initially suspected because he had mugged the wife of the murdered Chinese man on the day of the murder. However, no connection to the murder of the Chinese man could be established. For almost 15 years, there was silence surrounding Valentino Pesenti, but on January 17, 1991, everything was about to change. During the night, a neighbor heard loud screams and gunshots coming from the apartment across the street. She immediately called the emergency number and reported that she had seen a man wearing a large striped scarf who had fled in a white Fiat 500 from her neighbor’s apartment. The victims of Valentino Pesenti, whom he brutally murdered that night, were 67-year-old Anna Maria Carrozzino and her 35-year-old daughter Maria Grazia Villa. Anna Maria was surprised in her own bed while she was sleeping, tied up and attacked with a rolling pin and several knife wounds. Maria Grazia was stabbed to death in the living room with a carving knife. When the police arrived, the crime scene was a picture of horror, with blood everywhere. The gruesome scene was reminiscent of a horror story. Just a few hours after the crime, two police officers came across Valentino Pesenti, who had driven his white Fiat 500 into a ditch and was stuck. He asked the two Carabinieri for help. When they noticed his bloodstained pants and scarf, they searched the car, where they found the stolen jewelry of the two murdered women under the seat. The two police officers had no doubt that they had caught the murderer. Valentino Pesenti was arrested on the spot. Valentino had tried to spin a story about a previous relationship with the victims, but the investigators were skeptical. He finally confessed that he had not known the two women and that his motives were based on a delusional tactic. “I saw red,” he said, confessing to all the murders, including those of Elisabetta Thellung and Kuo Yuen Suo in 1976. Valentino Pesenti was tried for the four murders and found guilty. Although he tried to excuse his violent acts by pointing to his difficult life and previous convictions, the evidence was overwhelming. On May 21, 1992, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. A lenient sentence considering the atrocities he had committed. Today, Pesenti is serving his sentence in Porto Azzurro prison. Interestingly, he has used his time behind bars to advocate for reforms that offer alternative rehabilitation measures. He has even contributed to a prison magazine called “La Grande Promessa,” in which he argues for change in the justice system. Valentino Pesenti is more than just a murderer. He is the product of a broken childhood and a life marked by despair and violence. While he is now being punished for his actions, the question remains whether such a brutal person can ever be reformed. On the one hand, one could say that society failed to reach him in time; on the other hand, his case shows how far human darkness can reach. The traces left behind by Valentino Pesenti will remain forever etched in the history of this city, as a memorial to the horrors of crime and the sad reality that monsters do not always come from fairy tales.