Simone Pianetti (born 1858) was an Italian mass murderer.

He was born in Camerata Cornello, Lombardy. At a young age, he attempted to kill his father due to a legacy question, but he missed his target. For unknown reasons he was not charged and in an agreement with the local chief of the Carabinieri, he left Italy and went to the United States of America. After some years in the US he returned to Italy with a ticket paid for by his father.

After returning from the States

Back in his village, he married a woman named Carlotta who gave birth to nine children.

Pianetti opened a small restaurant where customers were also allowed to dance. Because the local pastor and other church people did not agree to the fact that there was dancing in Pianetti's restaurant, the municipality forced him to close down the restaurant. After that, he opened a mill that ran on electric power, but was also unsuccessful in this. Pianetti was the only one in the village who did not attend church on Sundays.

He had grown to think that everyone in Camerata Cornello hated him, which led him to his spree.

The spree and aftermath

In the morning of 13 July 1914, Pianetti took his rifle and shot and killed 7 people, including:

• Domenico Morali, an MD

• Abramo Giudici, the manager of the municipality, and his daughter Valeria.

• Giovanni Ghilardi, a shoemaker.

• Stefano Filippi, the shepard of the parish

• Giovanni Giupponi, a lay man.

• Caterina Milesi, a farmer of Camerata Cornello.

Soon after the killing, Pianetti left his village and reached Monte Cancervo, where he lived for some days, despite a search composed of 200 people from Carabinieri, the Polizia di Stato and a company of the 78th infantry regiment. Pianetti shot some bullets against some Carabinieri in order to flee into a mountain zone near the villages of Olmo al Brembo and Cassiglio. He was never arrested and his body was never found.

Notes

Pianetti became a hero to many anarchists, because he fought against the power of the Roman Catholic Church in the Val Brembana.

Sources

• Riceputi, Felice. Storia della Valle Brembana.