World news This article is more than 20 years oldItalian fashion queen in graveyard scandal
This article is more than 20 years oldOfficials may be tried for trickery at Rome cemeteryOne of the most revered names in fashion has been caught up in a macabre scandal that might have come from the pen of Joe Orton - an affair involving graveyard gangsterism, posthumous trespass and the trafficking of bogus papal honours.
Paola Fendi, who oversaw the transformation of a Roman family leatherware business into a global design empire, was told last week that prosecutors had asked for her to be indicted on charges of corruption. The 72 year old is accused of trying to bribe her way into Rome's most exclusive cemetery.
Prosecutors say Ms Fendi supplied, or offered, a wedding dress to the deputy head of the graveyards department in exchange for the right to build a family mausoleum in the Campo di Verano cemetery, a stately refuge just outside the old city walls. Some of Italy's most illustrious sons are buried there: Vittorio de Sica, Marcello Mastroianni and Luchino Visconti all lie amid its cherubs and angels.
Just one problem - it is full. And that is bad news not only for those who wish to keep up appearances in death, but also for the monumental masons responsible for Campo di Verano's marble magnificence. Last week six of their number were charged with the falsification of official documents.
The regulations governing access to the cemetery contained loopholes. You could still win a place amid its colonnades and cypresses if your family had a mausoleum there, or if you held one of a handful of extremely rare honours, including the title of gentleman-in-waiting to his holiness. Only 16 illustrious Roman Catholics have been rewarded for their piety with that title - and all were honoured by popes before the second world war. Yet investigators found that many more were buried in Campo di Verano, and most had died in recent years, their titles allegedly forged by the same skilful artisans who may now face trial.
Other deceased intruders were slipped into the vaults of other families. One woman, returning to Italy after a lifetime spent abroad, was astounded to find a framed photograph of a man she had never seen at the entrance to a mausoleum she had always imagined housed only the remains of her relatives.
Prosecutors have asked for all 11 members of the Rome city council committee responsible for Campo di Verano to be put on trial for promoting - or at least not preventing - abuses that went far beyond the dubious allocation of plots.
The extent of the venality came to light because of an event that made headlines around the world. On July 17 2002, as the US and its allies headed towards another war in the Middle East, it was discovered that the Jewish section of Campo di Verano had been extensively vandalised.
There was international condemnation. The Pope said he was "profoundly saddened", while the Arab League expressed revulsion and the New York Times told its readers the desecration "marked the arrival in Italy of a wave of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe".
But as police investigated, suspicion fell on a group of about 50 self-appointed gardeners who carried out unauthorised maintenance at Campo di Verano and were keen to discredit the cemetery's new director. He had earlier handed the care of its tombs and lawns to a cooperative of ex-prisoners.
The head of the cooperative - a convicted murder - described to police how he had been chased from the graveyard by one of the gardeners wielding a knife.
After it was confirmed that Ms Fendi had been formally placed under investigation, the company that bears her name issued a statement stressing that she was no longer a shareholder. She resigned as president in 1994 to be succeeded by her younger sister, Carla.
A judge will decide on January 9 if she is to stand trial.
As part of a drive to clean up at the Campo di Verano Rome council has announced severe controls on access.
In future only two categories of people will be allowed to be buried there.
The first includes those who die "in circumstances that have made a deep impression on public opinion". The second covers those "who have honoured Rome".
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