Class, Rimini and San Marino, part 3 of 3.

This week in class we talked more about the Monster of Florence case. It's a case about a series of murders committed mainly between the 1970's and 1980s. A sick deranged serial killer would murder young couples who would go to the woods/outer hills of Florence to be intimate. His M.O. would be usually to kill the male in the car, and then drag and kill the female, and mutilate part of her female parts. This Mario Spezi, journalist, was covering the cases from start to finish. It led to various trails from the Sardinian trail and to wild satanic ritual plots. Four men were arrested and or accused of being the monster, while Spezi came to the conclusion that one of the members of the Sardinian trail, fit an FBI profile of the killer. The Italian justice system had zero idea where the trail led to and it seems they were just arresting people for show. Then, an American, Douglas Preston moved to Florence to work on a mystery novel, then happened to find out a murder happened near the Villa he was living at. He then became hooked onto the case, and went over Spezi's stories. Eventually they worked on writing a book about the case, and their suspicion on who the killer was, while that same crazy Justice Mignini got involved in the case. He believed in the satanic ritual theory, and the theories of some conspiracy theorists who interlinked this satanic cult with the Twin Tower suicide crashes. He eventually went after Spezi and Preston for trying to continue to follow the Sardinian trial, and even linked Spezi to a murder. Preston used his friends from the international press to condemn Italy, eventually leading to Spezi's freedom because Italy didn't want to deal with it. The case is still pretty much unsolved, because the gun that all the murders have been linked too has never been found. The chief investigator and Prosecutor Mignini were convicted of misconduct. I believe that the serial killer is either dead, or there was copycat killings. The man that Spezi and Preston believed committed the murders has denied he was the monster, but has done nothing to try and clear his name from being linked to it. This story once again shows the stupidity of the Italian court system. Withholding evidence, testimonies, and believing conspiracy theories and unreliable witnesses as if they were spitting facts. In the other class, we talked about the Cosa Nostra, or the Mafia. We talked from everything to the head of all the families, the Corleone bosses. It seems they are most prevalent in Western Sicily, and in Naples. One of the most interesting things was that family members have to be introduced to each other, or that mafioso is a literary invention.

I decided to go to Rimini/San Marino on Sunday. My guidebook had nothing really at all on Rimini so I had to rely on the internet for interesting things, like the roman ruins or the Arch of Augustus. A marker where Caesar addressed his troops before crossing the Rubicon. And the Tempio Malatestiano, the cathedral of Rimini. What sucked was, the tourist office is closed on Sunday, so I had to just walk around the center of the square and try to find things. I did eventually find most of the sights that I wanted to hit by getting lost. I then had to go find the bus to San Marino, since the tabacchi and the ticket office clearly said no San Marino bus information/tickets. I eventually found the area for the bus but I had to wait. It takes about 45 minutes from Rimini to San Marino, because it's only 24 km away, but historical center of San Marino is up the hills. You get a beautiful view of the Emilia-Romagna area from the walls. You can go in and look out from 2 of the three towers that guarded San Marino. The main palazzo was cool, because you can see members of the San Marino guard. You just get an awesome view of the Adriatic Sea, Rimini, and other neighboring towns. I can see why people never bothered to try and conquer San Marino since it's up a steep hill. What's cool is that how much cheaper things are in San Marino, compared to Italy since they don't have to pay taxes. The State Museum was free and displayed some artifacts from San Marino's history. The two towers were definitely worth visiting for the amazing views. And getting my passport stamped for 5 euros was ok, because I'm probably one of the few hundred of yanks with a San Marino stamp in their passport. The bus back there took a bit longer since there was more traffic. Rimini, is a beach resort town, so understandably all the local Italians were taking the train back to home. I never really got to explore the beach area since it was the opposite way, but it looked nice, and seemed extremely young and local. The train ride from Rimini to Bologna kind of sucked since it was packed to the max with people without seats. And there wasn't air conditioning in the corridor of the trains. But we passed by two baseball fields on the way to Bologna, so evidently baseball exists in the Emilia-Romagna region. San Marino is a cool little country to explore, except that it's extremely hilly and has lots of steps so I got a good workout in. But I'm glad to visit another country before my trip comes to an end.