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The Monster Of The Riviera: Italy’s Most Prolific Serial Killer
“I got myself a taste for murder,” he said
On the 17th of December, 2020, the most prolific serial murderer in Italian records died of Covid-19. He refused treatment because, according to him, he “didn’t want to be a burden anymore.”
So ended a dark and sinister chapter in Italian criminal history — in a hospital bed, quietly and without clamor.
Arrested in 1998 and sentenced to 13 life sentences to be served consecutively, Donato Bilancia never showed remorse for his crimes. On the other hand, he was a model prisoner and used his disability benefits to sponsor a child with Down syndrome born into a disadvantaged family. Right before his death, he asked to talk with a Catholic priest: he told him he was sure to be sent to Hell, but he would ask God to meet his victims for a moment to say he was sorry about his actions.
Bilancia murdered 17 people in the span of six months — between October 1997 and April 1998. One more victim — Lorena Castro — managed to escape and raise the alarm. She later played a pivotal role in his arrest and conviction: the police sketch she helped to draw and her testimony at the trial sealed Bilancia’s fate.
