Giorgio Orsolano was tried and sentenced to death in March 1835 in the Kingdom of Sardinia, and executed in his home town of San Giorgio Canavese, in Piedmont, on March 17 of that year. A paper by researchers at the University of Turin attributes to him the killing of three girls between 1834 and 1835. One of those killings, that of 14-year-old Francesca Tonso, led to his arrest and trial. The other two, Caterina Scavarda and Caterina Givogre, are reported as killings he confessed to after his arrest. The court that sentenced him has never been identified.
Orsolano was born on June 3, 1803, in San Giorgio Canavese, a town in the Canavese district north of Turin. His parents were Antonio Orsolano and Margherita Gallo. After his father died, his mother sent him to live with an uncle who was a priest, in the hope that he would be educated. The attempt failed and he was returned to his mother.
In 1823, aged about twenty, Orsolano took ten candles from the Confraternita di Santa Marta and objects from the parish church of Santa Maria Assunta in San Giorgio Canavese. He faced a further charge the same year. On December 15, 1823, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released on December 13, 1831, for good conduct, according to TAG24.
After his release Orsolano met Domenica Nigra, a widow of 24. Their daughter Margherita was born on July 7, 1833, and they married in early April 1834. He opened a shop in the town, which TAG24 reports did not bring the income he had hoped for.
Caterina Scavarda was 10 years old. TAG24 dates her killing to February 14, 1834. Caterina Givogre was 9 years old. TAG24 dates her killing to June 24, 1834. Orsolano is reported to have confessed to both after his arrest in 1835, and the University of Turin paper by Giacobini and colleagues, which counts three girls killed between 1834 and 1835, attributes them to him. No separate trial for these two killings is known, and they stand as confessed and attributed killings.
Francesca Tonso was 14. She was killed on March 3, 1835, the day of the market in San Giorgio Canavese, according to TAG24. Her family went to see Orsolano, and he reacted aggressively and sent them away.
The authorities took an interest in him. Police found that he had already been accused of an earlier offence, and they searched his home. Orsolano tried to leave the town, was caught, and was taken to the castle of Ivrea. TAG24 reports that the move was made to protect him from a crowd that wanted to lynch him.
Sober, Orsolano denied everything. According to TAG24, the police, knowing his fondness for wine, got him drunk, and he then confessed. The same account says an officer had told him that confessing and pleading insanity would spare him the death penalty.
The trial was held at Ivrea. TAG24 gives March 13, 1835, as the date of the death sentence and says Orsolano showed no reaction when it was read.
Exactly what the sentence covered has never been set out in public. Francesca Tonso's killing is the one tied to the arrest and the proceedings. The killings of the two younger girls are described as part of his confession and are attributed to him in the University of Turin paper.
Orsolano was executed at San Giorgio Canavese on March 17, 1835, four days after the sentence, according to TAG24.
Caterina Scavarda was 10, Caterina Givogre was 9 and Francesca Tonso was 14. It was Francesca Tonso's family who went to Orsolano and set the inquiry moving.
The dates of the first two killings differ between accounts. TAG24 gives 1834 for both. The University of Turin paper gives the period as 1834 to 1835 for all three girls. The only killing tied to the arrest and trial is the third.
The court that tried Orsolano has not been identified, and which killings the sentence covered remains uncertain.
June 3, 1803: Giorgio Orsolano is born in San Giorgio Canavese.
1823: He takes items from a confraternity and the parish church of San Giorgio Canavese.
December 15, 1823: He is sentenced to eight years in prison.
December 13, 1831: He is released for good conduct.
July 7, 1833: His daughter Margherita is born.
February 14, 1834: Caterina Scavarda, 10, is killed (date per TAG24; confessed and attributed).
Early April 1834: He marries Domenica Nigra.
June 24, 1834: Caterina Givogre, 9, is killed (date per TAG24; confessed and attributed).
March 3, 1835: Francesca Tonso, 14, is killed.
March 1835: He is arrested and taken to the castle of Ivrea.
March 13, 1835: He is sentenced to death.
March 17, 1835: He is executed at San Giorgio Canavese.