Woman's body 'found sitting in a chair at home' 2 years after she died

The decomposed body of a woman has been found, still sitting at a table in her home, two years after her death.

Marinella Beretta, 70, lived in a house near Lake Como, northern Italy, and was last seen alive by her neighbours in September 2019.

They assumed that she had moved away at the start of the Covid pandemic, which hit the region in early 2020.

However, some two-and-a-half years later, local authorities discovered that this wasn’t the case and that, instead, Marinella had passed away.

They discovered her remains in February 2022 while making a house call.

Members of the Como fire brigade visited the property following complaints that a tree had fallen in her garden which had become wildly overgrown, local City Hall press officer Francesca Manfredi confirmed to CNNat the time.

Entering the house, they reportedly found Marinella’s corpse sitting in a chair in the living room.

And whilst a medical examiner was unable to determine her precise cause of death, they concluded that she died sometime towards the end of 2019 and said there was no suggestion of foul play.

Marinella Beretta lived near the Italian tourist hotspot Lake Como(iStock)

Following the tragic discovery, police began searching for relatives to contact. However, it appeared that Marinella had no living family.

In response, Como mayor Mario Landriscina invited local residents to attend her funeral which he confirmed would be organised by the local government.

Encouraging the community to take her death as a “moment of reflection,” he commented: "This is the moment to be together, and even if this woman had no relatives, we could become her relatives."

Meanwhile, Italy’s minister for family and equal opportunities, Elena Bonetti, issued a statement mourning the 70-year-old’s solitary death.

“What happened to Marinella Beretta in Como, the forgotten loneliness, hurts our consciences,” she wrote on Facebook. “Remembering her life is the duty of a community that wants to remain united.

She continued: “Taking care of each other is the experience of families, institutions, of our being citizens. No one should be alone.”

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