A 66-year-old woman's son told police he found his mother dead at the family apartment in Rome's southern Magliana district on Wednesday, apparently after being suffocated with a towel.
The man called emergency services after allegedly discovering his mother lying face downwards on the kitchen floor in her nightclothes with a towel knotted over her nose and mouth.
Paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene.
Police have opened a murder investigation.
