In Piazza Carlina the "bela caplera," "beautiful hatter" (the name takes its cue from her marriage to the hatter Iyaldi), a beautiful 23-year-old girl accused of murder by poisoning, was beheaded.
Two versions exist on this case. One tells that the girl, after becoming a prostitute, poisoned one of her colleagues with arsenic. Another tale sees the woman kill her husband after being disowned due to constant cheating.
What is certain is that on 28 February 1807, in piazza Carlo Emanuele II, known to all Turin citizens as Piazza Carlina, Maria Bel was executed, and the execution was carried out by guillotine.
Legend says that when the executioner took the severed head in his hand, her cheeks flushed and tears flowed copiously from the deceased's eyes. Even today, some claim that the ghost of the "bela caplera" roams the buildings in the area during full moon nights.
