In the 18th century, Satanism was in high vogue in Turin: an exclusive hobby for the noble and wealthy, as these secretive rituals could only be performed behind the closed doors of villas and palaces, often in dedicated underground locales. One of the most prominent figures in the field was one Francesco Spiller, who gained much power by organizing black masses in which he offered his own wife, Marquise de Montespan, to the powerful men whose favors he courted. Most of his rites took place in via dei Quartieri, inside a hall filled with all sorts of devil-worshiping accessories. Needless to say, Spiller met a grisly end: his body was eventually found with a knife in his chest in piazza Corpus Domini. His killer was never identified, and his temple in via dei Quartieri was soon put out of commission.