A 70-year-old woman was found in a mummified state two years after her death in her home in northern Italy, reigniting the debate in the country about the level of care for the elderly.
Marinella Beretta, who had no living relatives, was found at her home in Prestino, near Lake Como in northern Italy. Police were conducting house calls in the area due to bad weather conditions and happened to pass by her home as trees had been uprooted and fallen in the garden and tripped over the unfortunate woman's bones. She was sitting on the kitchen table in a mummified state.
Neighbours had not seen her for at least two and a half years, according to Italian media reports.
"What happened to Marinella Beretta in Como, the forgotten loneliness, hurts our consciences," said Family Minister Elena Bonetti, stating that the authorities have a duty to remember these people and not to leave them alone.
Almost 40 percent of people over 75 in Italy live alone, according to a 2018 report by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). The same figure also said they had neither relatives nor friends to turn to in case of an emergency.
Beretta was "loneliness personified", editor Massimo Gramellini wrote on the front page of Corriere della Sera, Italy's biggest-selling newspaper.
Neighbors, who had not seen Beretta since September 2019, assumed she had wandered away at the start of the coronavirus pandemic that hit northern Italy in 2020, according to media reports.
Police found nothing at the scene to suggest foul play. Her funeral expenses were paid by the state.
Source: CNA
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