Cornelia Zangari Bandi (20 July 1664 – 15 March 1731) was an Italian noblewoman, generally known for the circumstances surrounding her mysterious death, which is frequently described as a possible case of spontaneous human combustion.
[3] Anna Teresa married Marco Aurelio Tommaso Braschi, Count of Falcino, giving birth in 1717 to Giovanni Angelo, future Pope Pius VI (1775 – 1799).
[4][5] According to the 1745 issue by the correspondent Paul Rolli (who translated, for the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society,[6] a 1731 study by the Veronese historian Giuseppe Bianchini: Parere Sopra la Cagione della Morte della Signora Contessa Cornelia Zangari Ne' Bandi Cesenate (Opinion on cause of death of Lady Countess Cornelia Zangari),[7] during her last dinner, the 66 year-old countess was "dull and heavy".
The full account by Paul Rolli: The Countess Cornelia Bandi, in the 62d [sic] Year of her Age, was all Day as well as she used to be; but at Night was observed, when at Supper, dull and heavy.
In the Room above it was moreover taken notice, that from the lower Part of the Windows trickled down a greasy, loathsome, yellowish Liquor and thereabout they smelled like a Stink, without knowing of what; and saw the Soot fly around.