'Mummified' older woman found inside home in Italy 2 years after death

The mummified body of a lonely 70-year-old woman was found on a chair in her living room more than two years after her death.

Prestino (a neighbourhood near Lake Como) resident Marinella Beretta, was described by Italy's minister for families, Elena Bonetti as a victim of "forgotten loneliness" after it was revealed she had no surviving relatives.

"What happened to Marinella Beretta in Como, the forgotten loneliness, hurts our consciences," Bonetti wrote on a Facebook post.

"We have a duty, as a community that wants to remain united, to remember her life … no one must be left alone."

The Guardian reports that Beretta had not been seen by her neighbours since September 2019 and that they assumed she had moved due to the pandemic.

Writing about her death, Italian journalist Massimo Gramellin said "the real sadness is not that the others did not notice her death, it is that they did not realise Marinella Beretta was alive," she wrote in the Italian publication, Corriere della Sera.

Como fire brigade discovered her body during a house call after complaints a tree had fallen in her garden due to overgrown vegetation, CNN reports.

While authorities still don't know her cause of death, examiners analysed the extent of her decomposition and dated her death to the end of 2019. Police have also ruled out the potential of foul play.

Beretta's death has sparked debate around the issue of loneliness around Italy's older population. According to a 2018 report from the National Statistics Institute (Istat), nearly 40 per cent of Italians over 75 live alone.

Como Mayor Mario Landriscina said the local government will cover the cost of Beretta's funeral arrangements and invited the town's residents to attend the ceremony.

"I will try to be there and I invite the city to be present," Landriscina told Italian media.

"This is the moment to be together, and even if this woman had no relatives, we could become her relatives."