Beatrice Cenci and her family killed her father at his castle, Rome beheaded them, and most of the Cenci fortune went to the pope's nephew

Beatrice Cenci was born in Rome on 6 February 1577, the daughter of Count Francesco Cenci and Ersilia Santacroce. The family lived in the Palazzo Cenci in the rione Regola and owned a castle at Petrella Salto in the Abruzzi mountains. Her mother died in 1584. Francesco married Lucrezia Petroni in 1593. After Beatrice reported his abuse to the authorities, he sent her and Lucrezia to the Petrella castle, which by April 1595 was their prison. In 1598 two vassals helped kill him there. He was struck with a hammer and thrown from a balcony to look like a fall. Priests and villagers disputed the fall. One vassal, Olimpio Calvetti, was ambushed and beheaded while fleeing. The other died under interrogation in Tordinona prison. Beatrice, Lucrezia and her brother Giacomo were sentenced to death. Roman crowds protested and won a short delay. On 11 September 1599 the three were executed at the Sant'Angelo bridge. Her brother Bernardo, 12, was made to watch, sentenced to the galleys for life and freed a year later. Pope Clement VIII confiscated the Cenci property, and most of Francesco's fortune went to Cardinal Aldobrandini, the pope's nephew. The family palace was rented out to pay debts. Beatrice was buried in an unmarked grave in San Pietro in Montorio. In 1798 French soldiers opened the grave and the body disappeared. Rome put up a plaque on via di Monserrato in 1999.