Italiansmemorato di Collegno
Meaning: A hopelessly forgetful person.
Literally: The forgetful one of Collegno
Example: “Ha dimenticato di nuovo le chiavi: è uno smemorato di Collegno.” — He forgot his keys again; he'd forget his own head if it wasn't screwed on.
English equivalent: To forget one's own head
Equivalents in other languages
English: forget one's own head
Origin: From a real case that gripped Italy. In 1926 an amnesiac man found in a Turin cemetery was committed to the Collegno asylum, and in 1927 a family recognized him as Giulio Canella, a professor missing since the First World War. Fingerprints identified him instead as Mario Bruneri, a Turin printer with a criminal record, and the courts ruled him Bruneri in 1928 and on appeal in 1931. The case was so widely followed that smemorato di Collegno became a common saying for a forgetful person from the 1930s.
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