THE MURRI TRIAL AND THE ITALY OF 1905
A Lecture Presented by Dr. Christina Vella

Author of INDECENT SECRETS: THE INFAMOUS MURRI MURDER AFFAIR

A Celebration of the Jefferson Parish Library-New Orleans Public Library Reciprocal Agreement

Murder, adultery, incest, and obsession will all be included in the next lecture offered by Jefferson Parish Library.  Join us as local author, historian, and lecturer Christina Vella exposes indecent secrets when she presents “The Murri Trial and the Italy of 1905” on Tuesday, May 23, at 7:00 PM. at East Bank Regional Library.

Vella will discuss her latest book, Indecent Secrets: The Infamous Murri Murder Affair, a true history of a bizarre murder trial, and the milieu of the book’s setting, 1905 Italy. 

Vella’s lecture will be held in the Jefferson-Napoleon Meeting Room of the library, located at 4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie, LA.  The lecture is free and open to the public, and registration is not required. A question-and-answer session and book signing will follow the presentation.  Books will be available for purchase, made possible by Friends of Jefferson Public Library, facilitated by Octavia Books of New Orleans; cash and checks accepted.

Readers will recognize Vella as the author of the acclaimed biography of particular local interest, Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness De Pontalba.

Vella sees her presentation as a celebration of the reciprocal agreement that has been established between Jefferson Parish Library and New Orleans Public Library since December:

"The devastation of the New Orleans public libraries was an appalling tragedy. The libraries of any community are crucial resources. I am very grateful that Jefferson Parish Library stepped forward after Katrina so that Orleans residents would not be entirely bereft of library access, and I am happy to do anything I can to help both library systems.

"That perennial essay children are called upon to write in school---'What Democracy Means to Me'---makes me stop and think about what exactly in our community represents democracy, that is, equal advantages, access to the best things in our civilization. For me, true democracy means having three things available throughout the country: public schools and universities, public libraries, and public radio and television. Thanks to the administration of Jefferson Parish library, New Orleans continued to have access to books after Katrina devastated New Orleans libraries. I can't thank them enough for keeping that aspect of democracy functioning when everything else around us was in shambles."

[New Orleans residents with New Orleans Public Library cards in good standing are now eligible for full Jefferson Parish Library privileges and Jefferson Parish residents likewise are afforded the same usage opportunity with NOPL.  A temporary Katrina Guest Card is available to other area residents and those temporarily in the area helping with the recovery.]

More about the book:

In 1902, Count Francesco Bonmartini was found grotesquely murdered in his home in Bologna. Because he was the son-in-law of a famous physician, the murder set off a furious investigation, scandal, and trial that obsessed the press and public all over Europe for more than three years.

The victim--and “the Enchantress” - The murderess?
From www.dartmouth.edu

In Indecent Secrets: The Infamous Murri Murder Affair (Free Press), author Christina Vella provides a riveting account of the salacious case.  The suspects in the murder included Bonmartini's widow, Linda Murri, known as "The Enchantress," her brother, Tullio Murri, their lovers and servants, and even their eminent father.  Seven people were indicted in the crime and five went to trial.  Every day brought titillating new details: the Count had a mistress; Linda was credibly accused of incest with both her father and brother; her lover supplied poison for the murder; secret diaries were published; one defendant almost killed himself; and key witnesses began dying mysteriously before they could testify.  The world devoured every syllable of fact and rumor.  When it finally emerged, the truth was more fantastic than fiction and the conspiracy was more complicated and bizarre than any novelist could have imagined.  One great question was at the center of the murder: did "the Enchantress" arrange it all, or was she merely swept up in a scheme initiated by the four men who were desperately in love with her?

In retelling the sensational Murri murder, Christina Vella provides a window into Italy's rich culture and customs.  Because the case involved the most privileged people in Italy conspiring with the most destitute, the story allows a brilliant historian to show what life was like in Italy for the entire range of society.  She describes meals, travel, the legal system, prisons, medical treatments, superstitions, treatment of servants, a vivid description of Bologna and Venice, and much, much more.

The Murri Murder case, Europe's crime of the century, ranks as one of the greatest crime stories ever.  Moreover, Vella's book is a window into a fascinating culture that continues to draw tourists and scholars.

More about the author:
Christina Vella received her Ph.D. in European and U.S. history from Tulane University in New Orleans. A professor of history for over twenty years, she is now retired from full time college teaching.

When Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness de Pontalba was chosen for the cover of the New York Times Book Review, Dr. Vella began receiving lecture invitations which increased as the biography was selected by Publishers Weekly, the New York Times, and Times-Picayune for their "Best Books of 1997" lists. In 2003, Intimate Enemies was adapted by Thea Musgrave as the opera Pontalba. Vella's second book, The Hitler Kiss, is a memoir of the Czechoslovak resistance.  Having completed her third book, Indecent Secrets, Vella is now at work on a biography of Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic and its first President.

In addition to teaching and lecturing, Vella is a consultant to public television and to the U.S. State Department.

Recent lecture invitations include Princeton University, Mellon Lecturer; George Washington Univ.; Rutgers Univ.; Queens College, CUNY; Villanova Univ.; Rosemont College; Louisiana State Univ. in Baton Rouge and Shreveport; Univ. Of New Orleans; Centenary College; Tulane Univ., Friends of the Louisiana Cabildo; Tennessee Williams Festival; Faulkner Society Symposium; English Speaking Union; Historic New Orleans Collection; Louisiana State Museum; American Biographical Assoc., McDonogh School Founders' Day, U.S. State Department Curatorial Division, National Association of State Treasurers, and many conventions. She has appeared on NPR, C-Span II, A&E, and the History Channel.

Comments about Indecent Secrets:

"Courtroom buffs captivated by such media circuses as the Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson trials should relish Vella's retelling of a crime that in its day was as notorious….Vella has repeated the success of her earlier Intimate Enemies with a gripping narrative filled with complicated and enigmatic figures that should enthrall a wide readership." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“These characters and their supporting cast of obsessive paramours and weak-willed accomplices spring from the archives in Vella's psychologically subtle account. Italians hung on details leaked from the investigation and recomposed into competing narratives by lawyers. ‘The Murri case was better than a novel and promised to last longer,’ as Vella comments so pungently on the tragedy. And today's true-crime readers will be as anxious to learn the verdict as yesteryear's aficionados of scandal were. Astutely melding legalities and personalities into the historical Italian society, Vella fashions a riveting reconstruction.” – Gilbert Taylor, Booklist

Further information about Jefferson Parish Library programs, activities, and exhibits is available on the Library’s website at http://www.jefferson.lib.la.us or by calling Jim Davis, Information Specialist, at (504) 838-1100.