The bandits knew everything about that villa hidden in the hills of Florence. They knew the location of the rooms, the times when the owner, an 86-year-old Florentine lady, dined or fed her beloved cat by calling him from the terrace overlooking the garden. Above all, they knew where the keys to the safe were and what it was hiding. They were not the few gold objects of a childless widow who, since she lost her entrepreneur husband 16 years ago (she owned a foundry in Calenzano), lived alone with her memories and her cats. No, in that armored hiding place there was a real treasure. «Extraordinary and unique jewelry, bracelets and rings, made by great goldsmiths. They are worth at least 400 thousand euros, ”said the victim.
–
Via dei Massoni, the street of the rich
Thursday evening in via dei Massoni, on the hills of Florence, one of the streets of the rich that leads from Careggi to Fiesole, among centuries-old trees, swaths and luxurious villas, the elderly widow lived dramatic hours and risked her life. «I was looking for my cat on the terrace when I saw a shadow – he told again in shock -. And I felt something sharp in my throat. Then a hand covered my mouth ». That shadow and that hand belonged to one of the three robbers, armed with a cutlass. The bandit surprised the owner of the villa from behind with a hold so violent that it caused her injuries, fortunately not serious, to the rib. Then he stuck the blade in her neck. “Now shut up and let’s go open the safe together,” he told her. The lady started, she thought she was fainting, but despite her age she had a courageous reaction. He asked the robbers who they were and received slaps and shoves in return. “Take us to the safe and hurry up,” one of the bandits told her, showing her the keys to the chest found in a bedside table even before the attack on the woman.
–
No mistake: the robbery is the work of professionals
“They had their faces covered by a strange hood similar to a balaclava – said the woman – and everyone wore latex gloves. They spoke Italian correctly, I didn’t think I heard any particular accent, I don’t know where they came from ». They were certainly professionals. They made no mistakes, they didn’t panic and, almost certainly, they had an informant who knew the villa well. Investigators (deputy commissioner Maria Ghizzoni coordinating the investigations of the mobile team) are identifying the people who frequented the house. Among these was a Peruvian maid on vacation for a few days.
–
Precious jewels
The hostess was tied hand and foot with a belt, gagged, and locked in her room. Finally the three of the gang fled on foot. It is not excluded that there was a basista waiting for them even if the owner of the villa said she had not heard any car noise. “When I heard that the bandits had gone I took courage and tried to free my hands and feet – said the elderly owner – and with a cordless telephone that I kept in my room in a drawer and that the bandits do not have saw, I called 113 ». The lady was then transported to the Careggi hospital and treated for a slight fracture in a rib. Still in shock but with extraordinary fortitude for her age, she was moved when she described the precious objects she kept in the safe. They were of great value but for her they were above all a memory of her husband.
–
–
August 14, 2020 (change August 14, 2020 | 22:17)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
–
