Make-up maker Julia Tofana .. How did she help 600 women kill their husbands?

Between 1633 and 1651, Julia Tofana was the main reason to end the lives of more than 600 men. She carefully and meticulously made her own mixture of poison, packed it with a purely feminine touch, and gave it to women battered and tormented to get rid of their husbands.

Over 20 years, men were killed and their bodies dissected without finding any trace or criminal suspicion, so Julia became a saint in the eyes of many, and a source of fatal terror for men even after her death.

Arranged marriages

During the Renaissance in Italy in the 17th century, the majority of marriages were arranged, and they were mainly seeking to cement the alliance between families rather than seeking love, and women had no say in choosing a spouse.

Those marriages left no possibility of divorce, and the only way out of the unhappy union was death.

Most of the wives were teenagers, under the age of 14 at the time of marriage to men in their mid-thirties.

According to Medium, once the marriage was completed, husbands exercised complete control over their wives, often beating or mistreating them without fear of punishment or even accountability.

The best option: a widow

Women during that period did not have any material or social power, and they only had 3 options: either to marry and risk the cruelty of the husband, to remain celibate, or to become widows with a comfortable life, and this option for some of them was the most attractive.

In that same period, Julia Tofana was born, around 1620 in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, and when she was 13 years old, the authorities executed her mother, "Tofania Damo", for the murder of her husband, "Francis", the father of "Julia".

Julia made her mixture of arsenic, lead and belladonna in the form of cosmetics (communication sites)

Proxy revenge

After a period of her mother’s death, Julia got married and gave birth to a girl named “Girolama Spara”. Julia became a widow and moved with her daughter to Naples and then to Rome.

There was in Rome at that time a parallel world in which crimes occur in secret and at the same time flourishing, and this world consisted of chemists, pharmacists and experts in black magic, working on solving problems that doctors or priests at that time did not accept or could do them, such as Performing abortions.

Julia and her daughter made cosmetics and sold them to women, and through her work she befriended many of her clients, especially lower-class women who were battered by their husbands.

Julia sympathized with their tales, and decided to help them get rid of their husbands with poison.

Julia has also recruited more than 200 people to help her.

At first she gathered a few trustees, including her daughter, "Girolama". She also hired the Roman Catholic priest "Father Girolamo" and was responsible for supplying her with large quantities of arsenic, through his pharmacist brother.

The genius of Aqua Tuvana

Julia distributed her own poison, which she made from a mixture of arsenic, lead and belladonna, in two ways: one in the form of cosmetics, and the other hidden in small flasks with pictures of Saint Nicholas de Barry, and in both methods the vial of poison could be placed on the woman's dressing table, mixing the lotions And perfumes, without raising suspicion.

The mixture, which I called "Aqua Tuvana", was colorless and tasteless, and wiped out the man with just 6 drops, over a period of days.

But the real genius is that he was undetectable even after death, leaving no trace in the bloodstream or the body upon autopsy, and even giving the murderous wife a chance to play the role of a grieving widow before she could enjoy her freedom.

The poison was simple to administer and could be easily mixed with any food or drink, due to its flavorless nature.

The first dose showed symptoms not unlike a severe cold, and caused weakness and fatigue.

The second dose caused symptoms such as stomach pain, extreme thirst, vomiting, and dysentery.

Finally, with a third or fourth dose, the husband dies and the doctors believe that he is due to illness, and there is no criminal suspicion of his death.

Ehsan faces betrayal

Over a period of nearly 20 years, Julia poisoned and killed more than 600 men.

Although she helped many women get rid of the cruelty of their husbands, a wife who was preparing to get rid of her husband caused her.

In 1650, a woman offered her husband a bowl of soup with a drop of "Aqua Tuvana", and before her husband took a spoonful of it, the wife retreated and begged him not to taste it.

This aroused the suspicions of the man and violated his wife until she confessed to poisoning the food, so he immediately handed her over to the authorities and she confessed to them that she had bought the poison from Julia Tuvana, according to All Thats Interesting.

When Julia learned of the matter, she fled to a local church, who gave her sanctuary. But after a short time, a rumor spread that she had used "Aqua Tuvana" to poison the local water supply, so the authorities quickly stormed the church and was arrested.

At her trial, Julia confirmed that she had helped poison nearly 600 men, and it is believed that her husband was her first victim.

She and her daughter were executed along with 3 of her aides in 1659.

More than 40 poor women who benefited from their services were also sentenced to death, while some upper-class women were imprisoned.

Others escaped punishment by pretending that they had never known that "cosmetics" were in fact poisons, and they mentioned the accidental deaths in their families.