The mummified body of a 70-year-old woman thought to have been dead for more than two years has been found in Italy, sparking national calls to do more to deal with loneliness among the elderly.
Marinella Beretta was discovered by police and firefighters sitting at a table in her home in Prestino, near Lake Como, reportedly after her neighbours raised the alarm about unsafe trees on her property during high winds.
She is believed to have had no living relatives, and neighbours were convinced she had moved at the start of the pandemic, having not seen her since September 2019, according to Italian media.
“We must become her family and participate as far as possible in the funeral,” local mayor Mario Landriscina was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera newspaper, which carried Ms Beretta’s story on its front page.
The newspaper - Italy’s most widely-read daily - described her as “loneliness personified”, while lamenting the “reduced” modern family structure in which people not only die alone, but live alone, “which is almost worse”.
The mayor said her death “must be a moment of reflection on an example of loneliness that must really lead us to improve and change certain dynamics”.
While police opened an investigation into her death, she is reportedly believed to have died of natural causes.
Italy’s family minister, Elena Bonetti, said on Facebook: “What happened to Mrs Marinella Beretta in Como, the forgotten loneliness, hurts consciences.
“Remembering their life is the duty of a community that wants to stick together. We need to not limit our horizons to the private and go back to healing the ties between ourselves.
“Taking care of each other is the experience of families, institutions, and our citizens: no one has to be left alone.”
According to 2018 data from Italy’s national statistics agency, Istat, close to 40 percent of Italians over the age of 75 live alone. The same proportion also reported that they had neither relatives nor friends they could turn to for help in times of need.
In the Lombardy region alone, one survey by the confederal unions of pensioners suggested that there are at least 100 thousand residents over the age of 80 who live in extreme solitude, Vanity Fair reported.
