Italian fraudster creates one of the world’s biggest historical hoaxes

Twenty years ago, an Italian man created a story so convincing that when the truth finally emerged two decades later, everyone was left stunned — including local residents, tourists, the municipality, government officials, police, prosecutors, and judges.

The 49-year-old Franco Malosso Von Rosenfranz claimed that he had discovered the Berico Maritime Amphitheatre in Vicenza, in northeastern Italy, following a landslide in 2005.

Telling tourists that the site was one of the “oldest and largest amphitheatres in the world,” the history and culture fraudster claimed that the structure was built in AD 393, that Julius Caesar had visited it while returning from Egypt with Cleopatra, and that Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet had lived in an ancient church there.

He charged tourists €40 per person to hear these stories.

The deception was so convincing that the local government of Vicenza also believed the site was genuine and included it in official tourism guides and its mobile application.

However, after suspicions grew in 2016, the Italian military police force Carabinieri sought assistance from archaeologists.

Investigations using satellite imagery revealed that around two decades earlier, von Rosenfranz had first flattened a hill and then constructed the fake ancient structure on the site. Historical satellite images showed that no such structure had previously existed in the area.

It took 20 years for authorities to discover that the stories he told had no connection to historical reality.

Julius Caesar had lived approximately 400 years before the period when the structure was supposedly built. Meanwhile, the location associated with Shakespeare’s Juliet is known as Verona, not Vicenza.

Furthermore, investigators found that the supposedly “ancient” structure contained fiberglass, papier-mâché columns, plastered blocks, and plaster statues dating from the early 2000s.

Fraudster Franco Malosso von Rosenfranz was sentenced to prison for illegal construction, forgery of artwork, and unauthorized production of artifacts.

Now aged 69, von Rosenfranz received a sentence of 2 years and 4 months in prison for illegal construction, art forgery, and unauthorized creation of works.

But do you know how much of a fine was imposed on the fraudster who reportedly made a fortune from the deception over 20 years?

Only €3,000.

However, the case did not end there. The municipality of Arcugnano filed a €560,000 compensation claim against von Rosenfranz to recover the damages it suffered.

In Vicenza, there is reportedly not a single person who is not curious about how this unprecedented fraud case in history will ultimately conclude.

Source: Daily Metro / Euronews