He was one of the suspects of the politically motivated 1953 Wilma Montesi manslaughter case, her drowned body being found on a beach near Rome. He was later acquitted of the accusations on all counts as he had never met the lady and was actually in Amalfi with his girlfriend Alida Valli at the time of the girl's passing. The accusers, which represented occult interests were found guilty of perjury (calumny) and defamation. Nonetheless, because of the media scandal created his father stood down as Foreign Minister and secretary of the Party and his political career was ruined. The Wilma Montesi murder remains unsolved. This case inspired Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita as the investigation exposed the vices of of Roman society at the time.
