Indagini radiestesiche e romanzo poliziesco: il caso dell’ing. Pietro Zampa

Abstract

Pietro Zampa was born in Bologna in 1877 and died in Rimini in 1944. He was an engineer and an expert of the building industry, agriculture, herbalism, chemical fertilizers, methane, municipal waste, and he was also an amateur musician and the author of nine operas. In 1935 he encountered a lady who introduced him to dowsing, a “science” which was still unknown in Italy. From that moment on, he started experimenting with dowsing and began to apply it to his several activities. He also wrote many essays, among which Elementi di radiestesia. Le meraviglie di una nuova scienza (1940) and La radiestesia nelle indagini psichiche (1941), and two detective novels: Il tesoro dei Roccabruna (1940) and Espiazione (1941). The aim of this article is to show and analyze the method of investigation carried out by the detective in these novels, which is absolutely extraordinary because it contravenes both the traditional rules of detective fictions and the rules of the fascist regime.