(AGI) Rome, Feb 5 - The sudden disappearance of Italianphysicist Ettore Majorana, born in 1906 and missing since March27, 1938 during a boat journey from Palermo to Naples, remainsa mystery. However, Roman authorities, who have reopened andclosed the case numerous times, are convinced they have finallydiscovered a solid fact: the scientist moved abroad and stayedin Venezuela between 1955 and 1959. A decision that deputyprosecutor Pierfilippo Laviani defined as "voluntary" based onclues that are sufficient "to exclude the existence ofself-damaging or criminal attempts against Majorana's life orfreedom of choice and movement". Exactly what the Sicilianphysicist did in South America is unlikely to be discovered,"given the lack of action by Venezuela's diplomatic bodiestowards requests for news, despite them falling outside thescope of an actual letter of request". The investigation wasreopened in 2008 following an episode on a popular showdedicated to missing persons, "Chi l'ha visto?", during which amechanic, Francesco Fasani, testified that he met Majorana inValencia in 1955. Majorana was using the false surname Bini andhad just arrived in Venezuela as an immigrant. Fasani thenrepeated his testimony to the authorities before he passed awaya few years ago. He only discovered Majorana's true identity ata later time, when a certain Mr. Carlo, who was never trackeddown by investigators but was described by Fasani as aprominent representative of the Italian community in Valencia,told Fasani that the man known as Bini, who was waiting on thestreet, was actually Majorana. During his recorded statementsto police, Fasani described Bini-Majorana as "a middle-agedman, with whom he never developed any closeness due to hisextremely reserved behaviour, whom he continued to call 'Mr.Bini' without ever learning his first name, and with whom hefrequently rode in his car, a yellow StudeBaker". Fasani saidthat Majorana, who avoided meeting the same people frequentlyand shunned Italian immigrants, also lived with a woman, whoFasani never met, in the small town of San Raphael betweenValencia and Maracai. During this time, Fasani was often taskedwith cleaning Majorana's car, which was habitually "clutteredwith notes and papers". At the time, Majorana refused to havehis picture taken, Fasani said, except on one occasion: when,in exchange for a loan that the physicist "needed urgently",Fasani asked for their picture to be taken together. The factthat the photograph was taken in front of a bureau de changelent credibility to the story for the investigators. Thepicture, which Fasani sent to his family in Italy as a postcardwith "Bini-Majorana" written on the back and dated June 12,1955, Valencia, Venezuela, was examined by police to comparethe appearance of Bini-Majorana with that of the scientist'srelatives. In particular, the picture was compared with one ofMajorana's father Fabio when he was 50, the same age asBini-Majorana. The images of Bini-Majorana and Fabio Majorana"overlapped perfectly, down to the single anatomical featuresincluding the forehead, nose, cheekbones, chin, and ears, theselast ones even in terms of inclination compared to thecranium", said Laviani. Another decisive detail was a postcard,dated 1920 and signed by Majorana's uncle Quirino, which Fasanitook from Bini-Majorana's car and gifted to his brother ClaudioFasani, who then sent a copy to the investigators. (AGI).