Sulpizia Vitelleschi (1635–1684) was an Italian heiress.Monson, Craig A.:
The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most Infamous poisoners
' She was one of the people implicated in the infamous

Spana Prosecution The Spana Prosecution was a major criminal case which took place in Rome in the Papal States between January 1659 and March 1660.Monson, Craig A.: The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most Infamous poisoners' The Papal ...

Life

She was born to the extremely rich nobleman Ippolito Vitelleschi (1584-1654) and Angela Vitelleschi. She was the heiress of her parents and the richest woman in Rome. In 1647, she married Girolamo Mattei (1621-1656), brother of cardinal Orazio Mattei, who died during the Plague in Rome 22 August 1656. In December 1656, only four months after the death of her first spouse, she married her cousin Antonio II Tassi (1623-1672), Marchese di Paullo and captain of the royal guard of the viceroy of Naples. On 31 January 1659,

Giovanna De Grandis {{Expand Swedish, Giovanna De Grandis, date=February 2022 Giovanna De Grandis (died 5 July 1659, Rome) was an Italian poisoner.Monson, Craig A.: The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most Infamous poisoners' She was one ...

was arrested in Rome and imprisoned in the Papal prison at

Tor di Nona The Tor di Nona is a neighborhood in Rome's ''rione'' '' Ponte''. It lies in the heart of the city's historic center, between the ''Via dei Coronari'' and the Tiber River. Its name commemorates the Torre dell'Annona, a mediaeval tower which once s ...

, which was the beginning of the infamous

, exposing

Gironima Spana {{One source, date=February 2022 Gironima Spana (1615-5 July 1659) was an Italian poisoner and astrologer.Monson, Craig A.: The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most Infamous poisoners' She was the central figure in the ...

's network of poison dealers in Rome. Span herself was arrested in February. In April, Spana's maid Francesca Flore was interrogated, and implicated Sulpizia Vitelleschi in her testimony. Flore stated that Spana "once gave her liquid to a lady who lives on Via del Corso. I don’t know her first name, but I heard her tell Gironima she was the Lady Vitelleschi. I once heard the Lady Vitelleschi complain about her husband—that he was too arrogant and she couldn’t live with him." Flore stated that Spana sold the poison to Vitelleschi in the year 1657, after which Vitelleschi had become a widow. The testimony of Francesca Flore appeared to confuse the dates, since in 1657, Sulpizia Vitelleschi had been married to her second spouse, who was still alive, since the year prior. Out of consideration of the social rank of Sulpizia Vitelleschi, the authorities refrained from considering the possibility that the dates may have been confused and from examining the death of her first spouse, and her name was not mentioned further in the investigation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitelleschi, Sulpizia 1635 births 1684 deaths 17th-century Italian women People of the Papal States