Giada De Laurentiis' Family Has Alleged Connections To The 'Vatican Girl'

Netflix's crime mystery documentary series "Vatican Girl" hones in on the sad 1983 disappearance of a vulnerable member of society, a 15-year-old Italian girl named Emanuela Orlandi. Perhaps long after those involved thought the world had forgotten, director Mark Lewis revives the enigma, preventing it from fading into the canons of history. 

More than just bringing the mystery to life again, Lewis drags the Vatican into his bright hot spotlight and bathes the religious principality — already fraught with scandals of the darkest of natures (as noted by CNN in 2019) — in yet another odium. Lewis goes poking down every possible avenue and exposes all who had even the faintest connection to the Orlandi's disappearance. Notably, Lewis' efforts with the film also lend credence to the age-old adage, "It's a small world."

According to The Daily Beast, Lewis' research involved a wide variety of names. These include Pope John Paul II, Mehmet Ali Ağca (the famous Turkish assassin), Roberto Calvi (aka "God's Banker"), a photographer named Marco Accetti, and even a close relative of celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis. 

Before we get too judgemental, let us employ another adage: "It's not what it looks like." Giada De Laurentiis' family is associated with pasta (per Giadzy), movies and TV (per Britannica), and in Giada De Laurentiis's case, cooking and restauranteering (per Giada De Laurentiis). Nowhere in the family history is there any record of kidnapping. That is ... until you consider Marco Accetti's claims in Netflix's "Vatican Girl."

In the documentary series, Accetti, a professional photographer now living in Rome, claims to have called the missing girl's family to broker a deal, in an attempt to have Mehmet Ali Ağca (who tried to kill Pope John Paul II) released. As Accetti's account goes, he produced Emanuela Orlandi's flute as proof of his involvement in her kidnapping. 

Perhaps most interestingly, Accetti claims to have surreptitiously hidden the instrument at the studio of movie producer Dino De Laurentiis. Easily the most famous member of the De Laurentiis family at the time of Emanuela Orlandi's disappearance, Dino De Laurentiis was the grandfather of Giada De Laurentiis.

Lewis, like others, for a while, entertains Accetti's claims of involvement in the decades-old mystery but later dismisses him as a suspect, despite his knowledge of the flute. Considering Lewis' expertise, it seems likely that such a conclusion means we can actually dismiss the story in its entirety.