Francesco Ancangeli was born on 18 May 1737 in Campiglio di Cireglio, a hamlet of the municipality of
Pistoia then in the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He was a cook by profession and before the events of 1768 had been convicted of several crimes. In Trieste he lived at the Osteria Grande, the city's principal inn, now the Grand Hotel Duchi d'Aosta, as he waited for a ship bound for
Ancona, whence he could travel overland to Rome. At the Osteria Grande, Winckelmann met Francesco Arcangeli, an unemployed cook who was lodging in the room next to his. Arcangeli visited Winckelmann every evening in his room where Winckelmann showed him several gold and silver medals, including one Maria Theresa had recently awarded him. The two spent a lot of time together, eating, walking and talking, throughout the week following their meeting. On 7 June, Arcangeli accompanied Winckelmann to buy a pencil and a penknife. Arcangeli returned to the shop later that day to buy a knife. He bought some rope in another shop. On 8 June, he visited Winckelmann in his hotel room after dinner as was his custom. There he attacked and strangled Winckelmann, who pushed him away. Arcangeli pulled out his knife and they fought. It became the object of many speculations and narratives in private correspondence and discussions as well as in forensic reports, articles and public speeches. In the course of the six interrogations to which he was subjected Arcangeli provided contradictory versions of events: he said he had killed Winckelmann because he thought he was a spy, or to rob him, or because he was a Jew or a Lutheran. Others note that Arcangeli might have been suspicious of some of Winckelmann's book written in unfamiliar characters, perhaps in
Greek. Arcangeli seemed unaware of Winckelmann's wealth and he did not take anything when he fled. The strangeness of Winckelmann's behavior was also noticed, i.e. his registration under an assumed name, the absence of any contact with authorities or notable people during his stay in Trieste as well as his association with a disreputable individual like Arcangeli and his reticence to openly identify himself in the hours before his death. Winckelmann's
homosexuality was no secret to his contemporaries. The suspicion was that Arcangeli murdered Winckelmann for making unwanted sexual advances, perhaps on the first occasion he did so, perhaps in the course of a sexual relationship that had evolved over several days. == References ==