to bring further evidence in his favor, in particular a new psychological survey and more examination of the fingerprints. that was required since the evidence presented by the public prosecutor came from a civil trial, not a criminal one, and could be lacking in "formal rigor". the man kept living with giulia concetta canella. they had three children. elisa was born on 21 november 1928, camillo on 31 december 1929 and maria on 12 september 1931. according to italian law, they were not sons of the still missing giulio canella; they were registered in brazil thanks to the influence of giulia's father. in florence, the canellas' appeal was rejected again, and the man was sent to the carceri nuove jail to serve the remaining two years of bruneri's sentences. he was later transferred to the pallanza jailhouse. giulia canella asked for help from her friend giuseppe parisi, an army's captain, and germano alberti, a priest. they suggested going to the corte di cassazione again. public opinion on 11 march 1927, just a few days after the unsigned letter accusing bruneri, an official bulletin was published by agenzia stefani, the censorship organ and news agency of the national fascist party, stating that the man was a fake in the eyes of the party. newspapers had to conform to the agency's directives, called veline. the case gave a big boost to newspaper sales, and many news providers over time sided with or against the canella family. two informal groups, the canellians and brunerians, emerged. canellians cited as evidence the culture and education shown by the man while in the mental hospital. bruneri was a rough and uneducated man, so the unknown man had to be canella, the wealthy and educated professor. the man had been recognized by 25 members and friends of canella family, and 145 other people. brunerians responded that bruneri was well educated himself, having studied in institutes like the ones where professor canella received his formal education. moreover, they had on their side the scientific evidence of fingerprints and many witnesses, among them gemelli and della torre. it was found that bruneri, when young, had been fond of philosophy, and had studied the subject himself. in 1931, the neuropsychiatric expert alfredo coppola, an expert in war traumas, published il caso bruneri-canella all'esame neuropsichiatrico (studio psicobiografico e medico-legale). he confirmed that the man was none other than bruneri, and that the amnesia was plainly faked. extremely advanced methods of cognitive analysis were used in the study. the work was so advanced for its time that it is still considered a milestone in neuropsychiatry. coppola's work gained him the chair of palermo university department of clinical neurosciences. other eminent contemporary scholars, among them mario carrara (son-in-law of cesare lombroso and his successor as director of the forensic medicine department) and ernesto lugaro agreed with coppola. among the dissenting scholars were giovanni mingazzini, calligaris, perrando and pellegrini. final sentence in 1931, the cassazione court confirmed bruneri's identity and his remaining jail time. among the 14 judges, seven were in favor and seven against. the court president had to cast the deciding vote, and called minister of justice alfredo rocco to ask for three more days of debate. rocco refused, saying "i'm not giving you an hour more. let's close this clown show now". the court declared the couple's three children illegitimate, and their union "against public morals". a newspaper inquiry found that the man showed no sign of a gun wound to the head, as canella would have had. none of the five trials acknowledged the man to be canella. the identification of mario bruneri was confirmed by all the trials except the first. exile in brazil giulia canella lived more uxorio (as man and wife) with bruneri: that brought scandal to her and harmed her reputation. her father, concerned about the damage to the family name, forced her to move to brazil along with her sons and her alleged husband (as soon as he was released from jail). some newspapers stated that giulia canella herself was now convinced that he was not her husband, but had to keep pretending otherwise to avoid a major scandal. slander and malicious allegations about the issue became common. the brazilian government legally recognized the couple's sons and gave them the name canella. the man registered as julio canella, and his title of "professor" was legally validated. they moved to rio de janeiro, where the man occasionally worked on local newspapers, studied philosophy and gave some lectures. bruneri/canella wrote to pope pius xi about some of his philosophical thoughts. the vatican secretary answered, addressing the letter to "ill.mo signor dottor giulio canella". bruneri/canella died in rio de janeiro on 12 december 1941. giulia canella tried again to have the verdict overturned, until she died in 1977. further discoveries account of alleged meeting between canella and bruneri after the trial was over, an english noblewoman living in milan wrote to the court a letter under the name "mrs taylor". the woman asked for a meeting to give her account of a story. in 1923, she gave shelter to a homeless man found wandering in the streets, dressed in an old military uniform. she gave him a meal, new clothes and some food. she nicknamed him "the tramp" (il randagio). later they met again; moved by his politeness, she became his friend. the homeless man told her that he had fought in the great war, and he was sure he had a family. unfortunately, he was experiencing the consequences of a trauma, was psychologically unstable and could not remember his identity, where his family lived and many other details. he came to know a local girl, a salesgirl of dairy products, and he introduced her to the noblewoman. the two became friends and often talked about "the tramp": from their combined experiences, the women became suspicious about the man's real identity, and ultimately began thinking that the tramp was actually two very similar-looking men. that would explain his mood changes, the inconsistency of his stories, and his forgetfulness of details and memories from day to day. the suspicion was apparently confirmed when the noblewoman gave a jacket to the man, which was ultimately found among bruneri's possessions. bruneri was indeed living in milan at the time with camilla ghidini, wanted by police. taylor alleged that the good-hearted canella was the original tramp. she speculated that bruneri must have joined him in his life on the street, and the two became close friends, thanks to their physical resemblance. bruneri later came to know many facts about canella's life (but details were missing due to the man's mental condition), and when he feared that the police were on his track, he devised a plan to steal canella's identity and hide in a mental hospital. when canella's wife came to see him, he seized the chance to escape his criminal past. bruneri's letters in 1960, new information about the case came to light. felice bruneri, mario's brother, showed five letters sent by his brother to their mother while in the mental hospital. in the letters, he explained his situation and asked for the family's help, since he was hungry and repentant for his crimes. the letters were published 19 years after bruneri's death. however, few of his other writings had survived, so they could not be scientifically compared for handwriting. nevertheless, the letters are nowadays still considered one of the most reliable clues about the man's true identity. the brother was sorry for not having shown the letters before, but was fearful of shaming the family name and his mother. despite the great span of time that had elapsed, the letters elicited strong reactions from the canellians, who tried to get a new trial to clear giulio canella's name. denial: heirs and the church in 1964, beppino canella, the first son of giulio canella, gave a public speech reasserting that the man was his father. don germano alberti, a friend of giulia canella, nominated giulio cannella for beatification. the request was ultimately refused. after much lobbying from canella heirs and friends, on 10 june 1970, the roman catholic church officially released a press statement by cardinal and secretary of the vatican state giovanni benelli, asserting that in the church's eyes, the man was giulio canella, and his sons were to be considered legitimate. the statement clashed with the court findings and the new evidence uncovered, but was presented as certain despite being supported by nothing other than testimonies. political aspects the case broke at a very delicate time politically, when the newly elected fascist regime was beginning to face the many social problems of a divided country. the intellectual elite was divided. many catholic higher-ups sided with the brunerians, despite the official position of the church in the following years. politicians and journalists, especially from the liberal wing, sided with the canellians. the story was used by certain politicians as a means of distracting the public from the commission writing the lateran treaty, the agreement between the church and the italian state that gave the former more authority, a trick by benito mussolini to gain the support from the catholic electorate, while risking protests from the then strong liberal party. leonardo sciascia wrote about the political use of the story in il teatro della memoria. mussolini, while using the trials to his advantage, became concerned about the whole matter. when the case itself turned out to be a divisive issue among clerics and liberals, he intervened, trying to reduce its exposure in the national mass media. ultimately, he ordered the newspapers to stop writing about it. scientific importance the case was a landmark for the judicial process. science, especially forensics disciplines such as handwriting comparison and psychiatric analysis, became a common tool in trials. the case marked one of the first uses of scientific fingerprint analysis in the legal system in italy. psychology received media attention, and the now famous experts who had worked on the bruneri/canella case were instrumental in the birth of many psychological study institutes. stefano zago underlined how in this case coppola developed cognitive evaluation methods still in use nowadays. popular culture luigi pirandello was inspired by the case when writing come tu mi vuoi, a three-act drama first staged in milan in 1930. in 1936, actor angelo musco was the star of lo smemorato, a theatrical adaptation of the story. in 1962, the movie lo smemorato di collegno by sergio corbucci was released, with totò as the star. in 1970, rai aired two episodes of processi a porte aperte about the case on 11 and 13 august. bruneri's nephews tried to have the broadcast blocked, as did canella's wife and don germano alberti. the petition started by the priest received only about three hundred supporters. pasquale festa campanile presented at the venice film festival the movie uno scandalo perbene in 1984: he presented the story, but left the final open for interpretation. in 1988 in collegno, an exhibition titled sconosciuto a me stesso was held. french writer jean giraudoux was inspired by the case for sigfrid et le limousin. in 1993, bruneri-canella case was presented in final episode "the unknown" (neznámý) of czech krimi series adventure of criminalistics (dobrodružství kriminalistiky), where bruneri/canella was portrayed by czech actor jiří schmitzer. the case is mentioned in umberto eco's 2004 novel the mysterious flame of queen loana. radio host fiorello created a character named lo smemorato di cologno on his show on radio due. the voice was an imitation of silvio berlusconi (cologno being the headquarters of his tv channels). the character lost his memory every time issues about political promises, social issues or an opposing politician were named. berlusconi himself played the role in the last broadcast before the winter holidays in 2006. rai uno produced a tv movie named lo smemorato di collegno by maurizio zaccaro. on 1 april 2009, the tv show chi l'ha visto by rai 3 (a show investigating missing people) asked the carabinieri ris to examine the letters sent by canella from the war front with the letters presented by bruneri's brother in order to compare any traces of dna. the examination proved inconclusive. french 2018 movie : l'inconnu de collegno, directed by maïder fortuné.