Maria Elena Tiepolo Oggioni

Maria Elena Tiepolo Oggioni (18791960) was an Italian countess most well known for being accused of murdering her lover. She underwent a highly publicized trial in 1914 that reporters called a "trial of the century."

Family Maria was born in 1879 in Venice, Italy. She was the daughter of Giandomenico Tiepolo, a count descended from a Doge of Venice and the painter Giovanni Tiepolo, and the Countess Laderchi-Tiepolo.

Life Maria was 20 when her father Giandomenico was transferred to the court of Camerino in 1890. There, she met an officer in the Bersaglieri, Carlo Ferruccio Oggioni, whom she married in 1901. Afterwards, Carlo was transferred to Somalia, and Maria gave birth to two children: Gianna and Guido. In 1913, Carlo was promoted to the rank of captain and returned to Italy with his family, where he was assigned to a post in Sanremo. At his new post, he had a 19-year-old attendant named Quintillo Polimanti, described in newspapers as a handsome young man with curly blonde hair. Quintillo also confided in his sister Dina when visiting her in August 1913. He told her that, while he was there, they would receive letters addressed to her, but in reality they would be for him. These letters were affectionate in nature.

When Quintillo returned to Sanremo, he decided to express his feeling for her openly, and sent her a letter that he had written expressing his love for her.

After shooting Quintillo, Maria informed a neighbor of what had happened, telling them that she had shot the young man to defend her children. However, when investigators arrived to question the countess and inspect the crime scene, they learned that the countess and Quintillo were the only people in the house, and that the children were at school. The trial was surrounded by a media frenzy both in support of and against the countess, largely due to the scandal surrounding the illicit relationship and the reversal of social roles, with the murderer being a beautiful, aristocratic woman. The crime was viewed as both a reversal of the social order— a countess killing an orderly— and a defense of it: Maria claiming to kill only to protect her honor. Due to the courtroom being open to the public, newspapers would cover the proceedings every day, often on the front pages. A reporter from La Stampa wrote that, every morning, the public would amass outside the courthouse, and when the doors opened, they would fight and rush in to get the best seats.

The defense of the countess held that she had been defending her and her husband's honor from an attacking Quintillo. The prosecutors raised evidence of the letters Maria had sent to Dina's home and the locket that Quintillo had shown his friends. Additionally, Maria's pregnancy, which she miscarried while in prison, was alleged to be the result of her affair with Quintillo. The prosecutors tried to have Maria undergo a mental examination, but the court refused.

On June 2, 1914, after 8 hours of deliberation, Maria was acquitted of the murder on grounds of self-defense.