Salvatore 15 (Left) - Mariano 12 (Right)
Mariano Farina
Age : 12 years old (at the time of disappearance)
Height : 157cm
Eyes color : Brown
Hair color : blond
Disappeared from : Casteldaccia (Palermo)
Date of disappearance : 03/31/1992
Salvatore Colletta
Age : 15 years old (at the time of disappearance)
Height : 170cm
Eyes color : brown
Hair color : black
Distinctive signs : Scar on the left hand between the middle and ring fingers, scar on the left knee, space between the upper incisor teeth.
Disappeared from : Casteldaccia (Palermo)
Date of disappearance : 03/31/1992
Circumstances of disappearance :
On the morning of March 31, 1992, in Casteldaccia, Salvatore Colletta and Mariano Farina decided to skip school. They organized a picnic by the sea. They were accompanied by a friend, on a scooter. Together they went to the beach 2 km from the town, in front of the villas closed out of season. They bought fruit juices and biscuits for a total amount of eight thousand lire which they had debited from the Farina family account. Saying goodbye to their friend, Salvatore and Mariano told him that they didn't want to go home, "we want to take a ride to see what life is like," Mariano said. The boys did not give any further news. The searches began the same evening. The villas by the sea, the old abandoned houses and the entire surrounding countryside were checked, without success.
In the past, both boys had expressed some desire to escape. Mariano, for example, dreamed of returning to America, where he had already lived as a child with his family until 1990.
During the first ten days after the disappearance, several pieces of information reached the editorial staff of "Chi l'ha visto?", from Bagheria, Caltanissetta and Palermo. During the April 10, 1992 episode, Palermo received several phone calls from people claiming to have seen the boys. This ultimately led nowhere.
During this time, the fathers of Salvatore and Mariano lived a true odyssey that led them to travel half of Europe, following all possible leads, even at the risk of being victims of looters, as often happens in these cases. Another story from the time led Mariano's father to follow the trail of the nomads in vain, arriving as far as Yugoslavia.
The place where they allegedly held their picnic was also where the villas of various mafia bosses, such as Tommaso Spadaro and Filippo Marchese, were located. It was always suspected that the two children saw something they should not have seen or that they entered one of the houses and then suffered tragic reprisals. For this reason, the mafia trail has always been favored (even if the two families have no link with Cosa Nostra) and many repentants have been heard on the subject, without however being able to unravel the mystery.
Many times it seemed like a turning point had been reached, such as in 2013, when a woman revealed that one March night in the early 1990s, her then-partner was called to dump bodies of two boys. He also pointed to a surrounding wall in Bagheria, where he said the remains could have been. Investigations were carried out, a man was even searched, but ultimately nothing was found in this wall.
In 2015, the repentant Benito Morsicato, came forward, claiming that someone had told him about the kidnapping of the two boys, but did not remember who he was. He had provided some information to reach this alleged source, but even then, the investigations led to nothing.
More recently, two other collaborators of justice were also heard, Filippo Bisconti and Francesco Colletti, who did not provide useful information, to the point that the prosecutors again requested the dismissal of the case.
Mariano's parents ended up moving back to America. Salvatore's parents are still living in Italia. Both families are still looking for their kids, and hope to see them again someday.
Indagini, silenzi e pentiti: dopo 30 anni la scomparsa di Salvatore e Mariano resta un mistero
Chi l'ha Visto - Bambini Scomparsi - Mariano Farina - La scheda
Chi l'ha Visto - Bambini Scomparsi - Salvatore Colletta - La scheda
