Francesco Arcangeli (18 May 1737 – 20 July 1768) was an Italian cook and criminal, the murderer of the famous art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768). Biography A native of Campiglio di Cireglio, hamlet of the municipality of Pistoia (Grand Duchy of Tuscany), Francesco Arcangeli was a cook by profession and had already been the subject of criminal convictions. Winckelmann's murder Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the 50-year-old Prefect of Antiquities of Pope Clement XIII, arrived incognito, as Signor Giovanni, in Trieste (Holy Roman Empire) on 1 June 1768. He had been traveling to the north, together with a friend, the sculptor Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, to visit his native Germany after 13 years of absence. Oddly enough, in view of the Tyrolese Alps Winckelmann had panicked and pondered whether to interrupt the journey. Cavaceppi had convinced him to go as far as Vienna, where the scholar had been received and honoured by Empress Maria Theresa. Then Winckelmann, unable to withstand a German atmosphere and desperate to return to Italy, had abruptly abandoned his friend, despite his pleas, to return to the Papal States completely alone. The two friends had separated in the Habsburg capital, and Winckelmann headed for Trieste. There, he was living at the Osteria Grande (the city's main inn and present-day Grand Hotel Duchi d'Aosta, in present-day Piazza Unità d'Italia), waiting for a ship bound for Ancona, the chief Adriatic port of the Papal States, in order to reach Rome. In the inn, Winckelmann met Francesco Arcangeli, an unemployed cook and waiter, and small-time thief, who was lodged in the room next to his. Arcangeli visited Winckelmann every evening in his room where the scholar showed him his gold and silver medals, including the one Empress 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 alone that day to the same shop to buy a knife, then in another shop, a rope. The next day, 8 June 1768, he visited Winckelmann in his hotel room after dinner as he was used to. It was there that he threw himself on the intellectual to strangle him: Winckelmann pushed him away and Arcangeli pulled out his knife, they fought. In his testimony, Arcangeli said that he stabbed Winckelmann not only on the chest,