{{Short description|Italian magistrate murdered by the Mafia (1945–1992)}} {{Infobox person | name = Francesca Morvillo | image = | birth_name = Francesca Laura Morvillo | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1945|12|14|df=y}} | birth_place = Palermo, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|1992|05|23|1945|12|14|df=y}} | death_place = Capaci, Italy | death_cause = Assassinated by the Sicilian Mafia | other_names = | alma_mater = University of Palermo | occupation = Magistrate | known_for = {{nowrap|Investigations into the Mafia}} | spouse = {{marriage|Giovanni Falcone|1986}} }}
'''Francesca Laura Morvillo''' ({{IPA|it|franˈtʃeska morˈvillo}}; 14 December 1945 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian magistrate, wife of Giovanni Falcone and victim of the Sicilian Mafia. On 23 May 1992, she, her husband and three police officers on their security detail were killed in the Capaci bombing.<ref>{{cite web|title=Francesca Morvillo|url=http://www.memoria.san.beniculturali.it/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=2199d366-e820-4f83-80e0-c4a7633e917b&groupId=11601|publisher=Rete degli Archivi per non dimenticare|accessdate=19 May 2012|archive-date=7 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307034651/http://www.memoria.san.beniculturali.it/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=2199d366-e820-4f83-80e0-c4a7633e917b&groupId=11601|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Biography== Born in Palermo on 14 December 1945, on 26 June 1967 she graduated in Law at the University of Palermo, attaining the highest academic honours. Her thesis was entitled "Rule of Law and Security Measures", and it achieved the award "Giuseppe Maggiore" for the best thesis in criminal law for the academic year 1966/1967.<ref>{{cite web|title=Francesca Morvillo|url=http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/lazione-del-ministro/il-centocinquantenario-dellunita-ditalia/biografie/13052011---francesca-morvillo.aspx|publisher=Funzionepubblica.gov.it|accessdate=19 May 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120802203925/http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/lazione-del-ministro/il-centocinquantenario-dellunita-ditalia/biografie/13052011---francesca-morvillo.aspx|archivedate=2 August 2012}}</ref>
She joined the judiciary as had her brother Alfredo, and father Guido—assistant prosecutor in Palermo. Her career included practising as a judge in the Agrigento court; as Deputy Public Prosecutor at the Juvenile Court of Palermo; as Director of the Court of Appeal of Palermo; and as a member of the Commission for Competitive Entry into the magistracy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Un progetto dedicato a...|url=http://www.associazionenazionalemagistrati.it/dedicato.aspx?altTemplate=PaginaInternaStampa|publisher=AMN|accessdate=19 May 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120720135356/http://www.associazionenazionalemagistrati.it/dedicato.aspx?altTemplate=PaginaInternaStampa|archivedate=20 July 2012}}</ref>
Appointed Professor of Law, Francesca Morvillo also studied at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Palermo, specialising in pediatric legal issues.<ref>[http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/lazione-del-ministro/il-centocinquantenario-dellunita-ditalia/biografie/13052011---francesca-morvillo.aspx Italian Government. Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Minister for Public Administration and Simplification] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120802203925/http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/lazione-del-ministro/il-centocinquantenario-dellunita-ditalia/biografie/13052011---francesca-morvillo.aspx |date=2012-08-02 }}</ref>
In 1979, her first marriage ended in divorce. Francesca Morvillo then met Giovanni Falcone, an investigating judge in the court of Palermo. They were married in a private ceremony in May 1986 by Mayor Leoluca Orlando.<ref>[http://www.associazionenazionalemagistrati.it/dedicato.aspx?altTemplate=PaginaInternaStampa Dedications] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120720135356/http://www.associazionenazionalemagistrati.it/dedicato.aspx?altTemplate=PaginaInternaStampa |date=2012-07-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OlWUVtNXFsC&q=francesca+1986|title=Giovanni Falcone un eroe solo|year=2012|author1=Maria Falcone|author2=Francesca Barra|isbn=9788858625309}}</ref>
== Death == {{main|Capaci bombing}}
Giovanni Brusca was tasked with killing her husband Giovanni Falcone. Salvatore Riina wanted the murder carried out in Sicily in a demonstration of Mafia power; he instructed that the attack should be on Highway A29, which Falcone had to use to get from the airport to his home on his weekly visits.<ref>Follain, ''Vendetta'', p. 58-60</ref> 1000 kilograms of explosives were placed in a culvert under the highway between Palermo International Airport and the city of Palermo, near the town of Capaci. Brusca's men carried out test drives, using flashbulbs to simulate detonating the blast on a speeding car, and a concrete structure was specially created and destroyed in an experimental explosion to see if the bomb would be powerful enough. Leoluca Bagarella assisted at the scene during preparations.<ref>Follain, ''Vendetta'', p. 74</ref>
Brusca detonated the device by remote control from a small outbuilding on a hill to the right of the highway on 23 May 1992. Falcone, along with Morvillo and police officers Rocco Di Cillo, Antonio Montinaro and Vito Schifani were killed in the blast. She is the only woman magistrate murdered in Italy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2015-11-25/il-bene-sicilia-nome-magistrato-francesca-morvillo-125845.shtml?uuid=ACgB71gB|title=Il bene in Sicilia nel nome del magistrato Francesca Morvillo|publisher=|accessdate=9 September 2018}}</ref>
Thousands gathered at the Church of Saint Dominic for the funerals which were broadcast live on national TV. All regular television programs were suspended. Parliament declared a day of mourning.<ref name="Inside The Mafia">[http://www.1channel.ch/watch-757991-National-Geographic-Inside-The-Mafia Inside The Mafia], National Geographic Channel, June 2005.</ref> Her husband's colleague Paolo Borsellino was killed in another bombing 57 days later, along with five police officers: Agostino Catalano, Walter Cosina, Emanuela Loi, Vincenzo Li Muli, and Claudio Traina.<ref name="stille372">Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 372</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} * Francesca Morvillo on Italian Wikipedia * [http://www.fondazionefalcone.it/ Falcone Foundation]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morvillo, Francesca}} Category:1945 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Jurists from Palermo Category:University of Palermo alumni Category:Deaths by car bomb in Italy Category:Academic staff of the University of Palermo Category:People murdered in Sicily Category:Italian murder victims Category:Assassinated Italian judges Category:20th-century Italian judges Category:People murdered by the Sicilian Mafia Category:20th-century Italian women Category:People murdered by the Corleonesi