Self-styled miracle worker whose followers claimed could multiply gnocchi charged with fraud

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN

Rome (CNN) — A self-styled clairvoyant who said a statue of the Virgin Mary cried tears of blood and claimed she could multiply gnocchi for her followers, has been charged with fraud, along with her husband. They are due to stand trial in April.

For years, faithful Catholic pilgrims flocked to a field outside Rome, belonging to Gisella Cardia – born Maria Giuseppa Scarpulla – and her husband Gianni Cardia, to pray in front of the statue of the Madonna of Trevignano. The statue was said to weep blood and transmit messages Gisella Cardia claimed were both from God and Satan, according to court documents.

The couple, who have been denounced by the Vatican, created a shrine to the Madonna statuette and regularly held prayer events, during which Gisella Cardia would take to the stage and preach.

Her followers have told media that, although Gisella Cardia did not multiply bread and loaves, she would often show up with one box of pizza or a plate of gnocchi that somehow multiplied to feed the masses.

The couple also collected nearly €400,000 ($465,000) between 2018 and 2024 from those who came to pray in front of the statue, promising that the money would go to children’s hospital, the prosecutor’s office in Civitavecchia, which has charged them with fraud, confirmed to CNN Thursday.

The prosecutor’s office has alleged that the money was used to spruce up the pilgrimage site and for a $40,000 car, and was not taxed in accordance with religious donations.

The couple, who will face trial in April, are accused of staging “apparitions” to make it seem that blood was flowing from the Madonna statue’s eyes for money.

The alleged scam came to light in 2023 after a former follower contacted police. In an interview with state broadcaster RAI, he said he told officers that he’d found a coffin in his car following an alleged confrontation with Gisella Cardia.

Police launched an investigation, testing the blood which turned out to match Gisella Cardia’s DNA, geneticist Emiliano Giardina of the public prosecutor’s office in Civitavecchia said in a court report.

At that time, the Vatican released a statement warning pilgrims to be wary of “the alleged apparitions and revelations reported by Mrs. Gisella Cardia… and by Mr. Gianni Cardia,” which it said had been judged to be not supernatural.

The couple’s lawyer Solange Marchignoli told CNN Thursday: “(Gisella) Cardia is relieved, as she believes this moment represents an opportunity to transparently reveal the truth of the facts and to definitively put an end to all forms of speculation, misunderstanding, and controversy that have, despite herself, involved her in recent months.” Marchignoli added that the couple “welcomed the trial and said it would be a necessary step to finally clarify, in the appropriate venues, every aspect of the case involving her.”

One woman told a local news channel in an interview later broadcast by RAI that she witnessed Gisella Cardia multiplying pizza.

“We were at her house for a rosary, and there were about 20 or 25 of us. After the rosary, we decided to stay there for a while to talk. At one point, someone brought a box of pizza. A person near us cut it and each of us went over there and took a little piece at a time… We all ate it. The pizza was never ending and this is all the work of Divine Providence through Gisella,” the woman said.

Gisella Cardia herself also recounted a similar instance in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper when allegations of into fraud first surfaced in 2023.

“There was lunch left over, consisting of gnocchi and a bit of rabbit,” she said. “Everyone ate the gnocchi and rabbit, 15 people, and it’s incredible. While I was dishing out the gnocchi, the food didn’t get any smaller, nor did the pot.”

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