A very rugged and dangerous forest, with sudden drops and slippery terrain, local residents call it "the valley of hell." A forest where many people have been lost or killed, but within a few weeks they have always been found, dead or alive.
Not Piera Pinna (born Pietrina), 69, originally from Bosa and living in San Miniato (Pisa), who appears to have been swallowed up by that forest in Medicina di Pescia, in the Pistoia area, for over two months . Since that September 21st when she had gone there to pick mushrooms. With her husband waiting for her in the parking lot : Remo, 84, has difficulty walking. He was waiting for her in the car, but his wife never returned and he, after calling her several times, screaming, raised the alarm. Two people found him around 4:00 PM and helped him alert the emergency services, which arrived around 7:00 PM.
The official search, complete with drones equipped with thermal scanners and sniffer dogs, yielded no trace of Piera Pinna . It lasted a week, then volunteers took to the field. Nothing was found: not her hat, not her pocketknife, not even the basket where she was supposed to put the mushrooms she had collected.
The Sardinian sisters are unable to find peace, and have even created a Facebook page to find information, "Looking for Piera Pinna."
We spoke with Simona, Piera's niece , who sums up the family's desperation: " We don't even know if there's an ongoing investigation , or if they're reconstructing her movements using cameras and cell towers. Her husband notified us of her disappearance on September 23rd at 7:30 PM, two days later. Since then, we've been plunged into despair and have received very little information. The authorities won't talk to us; we've only managed to speak twice with Piera's son, who filed the complaint, and with Remo. But they're not informing us of anything anymore."
Furthermore, there are some inconsistencies in the story that need to be clarified , which tinge the whole affair with mystery.
The missing person's report filed by her son (who wasn't present that day) mentions the Madonna del Tamburino, but the car in which her husband Remo was waiting for her was in Pian di Galli . Why?
Then there's the case of the phone. Piera had left it in the car for fear of losing it , her husband said. But for her Sardinian relatives, it's a strange circumstance: "Once she was in another forest with her grandson, and at a certain point she thought she was lost. Then she found her way again, but that day she was very scared and promised herself she would always carry her phone with her ."
That September 21st was a Sunday, the weather was mild, and there was a lot of activity in the woods: "And yet, as far as we know, no one saw her. We only know that a mushroom hunter saw the car with the door open and the crutches propped up (presumably Remo's, ed.)", explains Simona. Moreover, that is big game hunting area: "The woods are always frequented by hunters with dogs; they would have found her in two months" .
Finally, the hypothesis that something actually happened the day before September 21st. Did Piera Pinna actually go to that woods? The woman, in fact, owns a kiosk near Empoli where she goes three times a week to sell the vegetables she produces. She went there again on Saturday, September 20th, but according to a witness , at 1:30 PM the area where the kiosk is located was locked with a padlock and chain. And inside was the van, the van Piera usually used to drive home. "How did she get back there that day? Did someone take her? Did she really go back?" the family members ask, launching an appeal. "We ask anyone who saw her at the market that day to come forward and tell us what my aunt's attitude was, whether it was her usual behavior, whether she was worried."
Lucca-based criminologist Irene Peluso is now investigating the case, precisely because of the many inconsistencies highlighted by the Sardinian family.
This is good news, at least in terms of keeping the 69-year-old Sardinian woman's case a secret. Her sisters are unable to find any information: "The criminologist spoke with us, and then we have our family lawyer, who also knows Piera. He has asked the prosecutor's office for information, but so far we haven't received any answers."
But who is Piera Pinna and what is her relationship with her Sardinian family? "She's not an old woman," despite her age. "She's a determined, strong, energetic woman, always busy and accustomed to working outdoors and surrounded by nature . The owner of a farm, she sells her fruit and vegetables three times a week at a kiosk in Empoli."
"She and my mother," Simona says, "emigrated from Bosa in 1979, and after five years in Rome they moved to Florence. When she decided to marry Remo, my mother returned to Sardinia."
The sisters talk often, but haven't seen each other for seven years: "We don't go to Tuscany, and she hasn't been to Sardinia for a long time, partly because of her husband's walking problems."
Her relationship with her husband? "She never told us about any problems ." Suspicions? "We're not pointing fingers, we just want to know what happened to Piera and we're demanding answers. There are too many inconsistencies, we want all her movements reconstructed starting from Saturday, September 20th. Also to understand if she really went into the woods."
For now, the family has no intention of traveling to Tuscany: "If there's any development, we'll go, but there's no point in looking for her now. That forest is rugged and inhospitable to those who don't know it."