Biography
Early life and origin
Gironima Spana was born in Sicily as the daughter of the wealthy Niccolo Spano, who was provisioning Spanish galleys and overseeing expenditures of Palermo's Ospedale degli Spagnol. She became the stepdaughter of Giulia Mangiardi (1581-1651), traditionally known in history as "Activity
In 1624, the family fled to her maternal uncle in Rome, the cleric and astrologer Andrea Lorestino (d. 1627). Her stepfather Cesare Ranchetti was described as a spendthrift who ruined the family's economy; Gironima Spana had to marry in 1629 at the age of fourteen, and her stepmother became a professional marriage maker but also, unofficially, allegedly resumed her business as a poison distributor in Rome. The family is known to have been established on the Via della Lungara in Rome in 1643. Spana was married to Niccolo Caiozzi (d. 1657), a Florentine grain speculator, who was described as an adulterous spendthrift, but he is not listed as living with her after 1640 and he is known to have left Rome in 1655 to escape his creditors. Gironima Spana officially established herself as a professional astrologer and a distributor of herbal medicine. However, she was also instructed by her stepmother in how to manufacture and sell the Aqua Tofana poison. Together, the two women trafficked deadly poison and specialized in selling poison to women married to abusive husbands. Giulia Mangiardi was later described by contemporaries who met her in Rome as "a nasty, ugly woman" and "unpleasant and raggedy", but Gironima had a very good relationship with her stepmother, whom she described as "una brava donna" ('a good woman'). Historians point to her stepmother dying in her sleep in 1651 with no one aware of her poisoning activities.Philip Wexler, Toxicology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Elsevier Science - 2017, pages 63-64 After her death 17 January 1651, Gironima Spana took over her business. She developed it into a considerable enterprise, with several poison saleswomen active in the business in the 1650s. Gironima Spana was an astrologer of note in Rome, where she was engaged to predict the future and find missing objects by clients in the Roman aristocracy. It is noted that she behaved and dressed in a manner which made her acceptable in the salons of the aristocracy, and it is mentioned how her rich client sent for her in their carriages and that she often travalled around Rome in carriages borrowed from her aristocratic friends.Prosecution
The poison business was exposed to the Papal authorities with the arrest of one of Spana's poison sellers, Giovanna De Grandis, who was arrested in flagrante 31 January 1659 and imprisoned at theLegacy
Gironima Spana and the Spana Prosecution became the subject of sensationalist myths, and she has been confused with her stepmother Giulia Tofana.See also
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