Maria Giuseppa Gizzi, Italian Female Serial Killer Bandit - 1867

FULL TEXT: The “Italia” of Naples announces the death of the famous “brigandess” La Gizzi, who was for some time the terror of the Volturara district. La Gizzi was a tall, muscular woman with beetling brows, covered with a thick mass of black shaggy hair that fell over her shoulders and breast, and was so bloodthirsty that she voluntarily performed the office of executioner on every captive doomed to death by her hand. It is related that on one occasion, after stabbing three of her captives, she collected the blood that flowed from their wounds in a jar and then poured it over the head of her lover, telling him that that should be his baptism of blood. Being sharply pursued by the troops, her consort and herself took refuge in the cottage of a peasant at Petrosa, and compelled him with frightful threats to give them food. The peasant laid some provisions before them; but while they were busied with their meal, he seized an axe, and attacked them with such fury that he struck both La Gizzi and her companion to the ground before they could defend themselves. He then ran to the neighboring village of Ricigliano, collected the national guard of the district, and returned with them to his cottage. Here they found the two dead bodies, and after decapitating them carried the heads of La Gizzi and her lover, together with their conqueror, in triumph through the district.

[From “Foreign Miscellenea.” The Oamaru Times and Waitaki Reporter (Oamaru, New Zealand), May 3, 1867, p. 4]

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FULL TEXT (translated from German): The "Italia" newspaper of Naples tells the following story of robbery: Giacomo Parra, scattered by the band of Cerino, had retreated with her lover into the forest of Volturara on new year’s eve. This wife of Parra was named Maria Giuseppa Gizzi, from Colliano, and was notorious throughout the homeland for her savagery and cruelty. Of a bold and masculine bearing, with a low forehead almost covered with frizzy black hair. Leaning on her back and chest, she looked like a fairytale horror creature.

Gizzi was so murderous that the victims of Parra were almost always murdered by her hand, and Parra rejoiced in the bravery of his wife. They tell horrible stories about Gizzi; she is said to have stabbed three prisoners of the gang with her own hand, collected blood from these victims into a vat and poured it on Parra, a kind of murderous blood baptism. Parra and Gizzi, pursued from all sides, had withdrawn to a place called Petrosa; here they found the shepherd Pasquale Lisanti and asked him to feed them under threat of death. The shepherd brought them what he had, and the robber and his wife, armed to the teeth, sat down to breakfast.

The shepherd Lisanti noticed a hatchet. He resolutely grasped it, and gave Parra such a blow on the head and Gizzi another in front of his forehead, that both are at once left dead. Then the shepherd ran to the nearby town of Ricigliano and announced his deed. The National Guard of the community, who did not believe the deed, for Parra and the Gizzi were the terror of the whole area, following Lisanti to the Petrosa, where they found the corpses of the robbers. They cut off their heads, and with the two chiefs of the robbers and the brave devotee of the same, held a triumphal procession through the whole community.

[“Story of a Female Robber.” Prager Abendblatt (Prague, Bohemia), 6. Februar 1867, p. 3]

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FULL TEXT: Die »Italia« von Neapel erzählt folgende Räubergeschichte: Giacomo Parra, von der Bande des Cerino versprengt, hatte sich in der Neujahrsnacht mit seiner Geliebten in den Wald von Volturara zurückgezogen. Dieses Weib des Parra hieß Maria Giuseppa Gizzi, aus Colliano und war in der ganzen Heimatsgegend wegen seiner Wildheit und Grausamkeit berüchtigt. Von kühner und männlicher Haltung, mit niedriger Stirn, welche mit krausen schwarzen Haaren fast ganz bedeckt war. Dieihr auf den Rücken und auf die Brustherabhingen, erschien sie wie eine märchenhafte Schreckensgestalt.

Die Gizzi war so mordsüchtig, daß die Opfer des Parra fast immer durch ihre Hand ermordet wurden, und Parra freute sich dieser Tapferkeit seines Weibes. Man erzählt gräßliche Geschichten von der Gizzi; so soll sie einmal drei Gefangene der Bande mit eigener Hand erstochen, dann Blut von diesen Schlachtopfern in ein Gefäßge sammelt und es dem Parra über den Kopfgeschüttet haben, eine Art von mörderischer Bluttaufe. Parra und die Gizzi, von allen Seiten verfolgt, hatten sich nach einem Platze, die Petrosa genannt, zurückgezogen; hier fanden sie den Hirten Pasquale Lisanti und forderten von ihm unter Todesdrohungen zu essen. Der Hirte brachte ihnen, was er hatte, und der Räuber und sein Weib, beide bis an die Zähne bewaffnet, setzten sich in aller Ruhe zum Frühstück.

Der Hirte Lisanti aber erblickte zufällig ein Beil; kurz entschlossen, er greifter es und gibt dem Parra damit einen solchen Schlag auf den Kopf und der Gizzi einen zweiten vor die Stirn, daß beide sofort todt liegen bleiben.Darauf lief der Hirte nach dem nahen Orte Ricigliano und zeigte seine That an. Die Nazionalgarde der Gemeinde, welche die That nicht glauben wollte denn der Parra und die Gizzi waren der Schrecken der ganzen Gegend folgte dem Lisanti nach der Petrosa, wo sie die Leichen der Räuber fanden. Es wurdediesen der Kopf abgeschnitten und mit den beiden Häuptern der Räuber und dem tapferen Erleger derselben ein Triumphzugdurch dieganze Gemeinde gehalten.

[“Eine Räubergeschichte.” Prager Abendblatt (Prague, Bohemia), 6. Februar 1867, p. 3]

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For similar cases, see: Female Serial Killer Bandits

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Links to more Serial Killer Couples

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[1038-1/10/21]

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