Sergio Cosimini

Sergio Cosimini (born 1963), known as The Madman of Florence , is an Italian serial killer who committed three murders in Tuscany between 1989 and 1990. Cosimini was later ruled to be unfit to stand trial and instead interned at a psychiatric facility.

Early life Sergio Cosimini was born in Florence in 1963 into an affluent family. His father Franco owned a furniture factory in Poggibonsi, while his mother came from a wealthy family background. The latter's death from leukemia deeply disturbed Sergio's psyche, and soon afterwards, he started showing signs of mental imbalance.

Worsening mental health Out of "fear of being attacked", Cosimini obtained several knives and chains that he kept in his room, where he locked himself away for long periods of time.

On 8 November 1988, Cosimini, carrying a sawed-off shotgun under his vest, was stopped on a moped. When asked why he had the weapon, he jokingly said, "I was going to do a robbery." Not long after, he began to abuse drugs and live on the streets. Later on, Cosimini claimed that he made two anonymous phone calls to the local police department in which he admitted to the murder, but despite efforts to identify the caller, authorities were unable to do so.

On 20 March 1990, Cosimini sexually abused two girls on the street and beat up a policeman who had arrive at the scene – he was sentenced to four months imprisonment for this crime, but was deemed "not dangerous" by the judge and thus did not serve a single day in jail. Not even two months later, on 1 June, Cosimini was riding a stolen moped on the wrong side of the road on Via dei Gazzani in Siena. Two carabinieri, 28-year-old Mario Forziero and 24-year-old Nicola Campanile, drove up to the man to question him, but the moment Cosimini saw them, he pulled out a revolver and shot them three times. In this regard, his father Franco (who died in 2011) pleaded that his son never be released, leaving him out of his will. While being walked around the Boboli Gardens, he managed to escape from the two volunteers after they went into a nearby bar to buy him something to drink. At the time of his arrest, Cosimini said that he had just wanted to be free for a little bit, as the hospital staff supposedly gave him too much medicine and that he was hearing voices telling him to commit suicide.

On 6 January 2016, following acts of self-injury to his toes, Cosimini was admitted to the San Giuseppe Hospital in Empoli. On 2 February, following the closure of the psychiatric hospital in Montelupo Fiorentino, he was then transferred to a health-care facility in Volterra. This decision was strongly criticized by Marco Cordone, the son of Antonio Cordone and founder of the "Dalla parte di Abele" committee, a victims' rights organization advocating for effective punishments for violent offenders. In a statement concerning the decision, Mario Cordone stated that he was against the closure of the psychiatric hospitals and argued that Cosimini's transfer was shameful, as the facility had no armed security.