A woman who  resembles a missing girl in Italy has undergone a DNA test after her resemblance was discovered by a blogger in Turkey 16 years ago.

Angela Celentano, nicknamed the Italian Madeleine McCann   , disappeared in 1996 at the age of three during a picnic with her parents on Monte Faito.

More than a decade later, Italian Vinceza Trentinella told police that Angela, after being kidnapped as a child, was being held captive on the Turkish island of Buikada, near Istanbul.

Mrs. Trentinella claimed that Angela was living with a man, a self-proclaimed veterinarian, who she believed was her father.

The blogger claimed to have received the information from a dying priest, Don Augusto, who claimed to have revealed it during confession.

Upon her return to Italy, Mrs. Trentinella notified the police and handed them some documents: a business card of the alleged father, who had a scar on his neck, and photographs of the little girl, who closely resembled Angela.

However, Turkish authorities did not pursue the charges after receiving a fake phone number from a man named Fahfi Bey.

Judge Federica Colucci has now reopened the case and ordered a new investigation to find the so-called “Turkish trace” and “dispel any doubts about his identity,” reports Corriere del Mezzogiorno.

A DNA test has been ordered for a woman who resembles a missing girl in Italy, after her resemblance was discovered by a blogger in Türkiye 16 years ago.

Angela Celentano disappeared in 1996 at the age of three during a picnic with her parents on Mount Faito, a mountain between Naples and Sorrento on the west coast of Italy.

A glimpse of what Angela would look like as an adult: Her parents said, “Until I’m sure my daughter is dead, until I have a body to mourn, I will keep looking for her.”

They asked the prosecutor to interview witnesses in Türkiye and identify the girl in the video shot by Ms. Trentinella in 2009.

The Naples Prosecutor’s Office had recently requested that the case be closed, but the lawyers for the missing girl’s parents insisted on a DNA test, which the judge granted.

Judge Colucci asked a pharmacist from Buyikada to confirm the scar on the “father’s” neck.

According to Corriere del Mezzogiorno, they also want a photo of the woman’s current partner, who resembles Angela.

A lawyer registered with the Buyukada Bar Association in Istanbul will also share identifying materials of the woman featured in Ms. Trentinella’s video.

Over the past 29 years, several suspects resembling Angela have been subjected to various DNA tests without success.

In 2017 there were sightings in Mexico, a few years later in South Africa and then in Venezuela.

Her parents believed that a Venezuelan model who looked very similar to Angela’s older sister was their long-lost daughter.

Mrs. Trentinella personally traveled to Buyikada, where she met someone she believes to be Angela (pictured far left). She said, “She knows nothing about his life; she believes the person she lives with is her father.”

“Not a day goes by that we don’t think of Angela, who was always present in our lives, even when she wasn’t physically there. We’re sure that sooner or later we’ll hug her again,” said her parents Maria and Catello.

Her disappearance made headlines throughout Italy and the Carabinieri, the army, dog squads and a police helicopter joined the search for the little girl.

But his hopes were dashed when a DNA test, carried out in February 2022, revealed that he was not a match for the woman.

“By a bitter twist of fate, there was a striking resemblance to one of Angela’s two sisters,” said Luigi Ferrandino, the Celentano family’s lawyer, at the time. “We believed and hoped she was here, but unfortunately the DNA results came back negative.”

Mrs. Trentinella learned of the current situation after the dying priest who had heard her confession felt he could no longer “bear this burden on his conscience.”

The priest told her about a veterinarian who lived on the island and who, he said, had kidnapped Angela.

Mrs. Trentinella traveled to Buyikada in person and met a veterinarian named Fahfi Bey at a veterinary clinic, where she posed as a tourist looking for a kitten from the island. There, she found the person she believed to be Angela.

“I knew where to go and what to look for and I found her,” Ms Trentinella told MailOnline last year.

When she found out who she thought Angela and her alleged kidnapper were, she said, “It wasn’t easy. He was very nervous. She doesn’t know anything about his life; she thinks the person she’s living with is her father.”

Ms. Trentinella said the man, who identified himself as Angela’s father, wrote a number on his business card and claimed it was hers.

Angela turned 30 in June 2023 and her parents revealed that they continue to celebrate her birthday every year by buying her a gift to put in her closet.

But when the Italian police, in collaboration with their Turkish colleagues, called the number, a man answered, claiming to have never met Ms. Trentinella.

It later emerged that this man’s real name was Fahri Dal. This meant that the real Fahfi Bey had given Ms. Trentinella a fake number. Despite this discrepancy, the Turkish police did not investigate this potentially important clue in detail.

The investigations at that time dragged on for years without finding any concrete evidence against Fahri Bey.

Little Angela was playing with other children from the Protestant church when she disappeared and, shortly before disappearing, she had said to her father: “They won’t let me get into the hammock.”

Catello said he remembered telling his daughter he would take her to the hammock before turning to speak briefly with his wife, Maria.

A few seconds later, when he turned and took his daughter’s hand, Angela was gone.

The couple then spent a few days in the mountains, with the help of friends and the police, searching for their daughter.

The Carabinieri, the Army, dog teams, and a police helicopter also participated in the search.

The little girl was playing with other children from the Protestant congregation when she disappeared. Shortly before she disappeared, she had told her father, “They won’t let me get in the hammock.”

The police began questioning all the participants in the trip and quickly discovered that the last people to have seen Angela were two boys, Renato, 11, and Luca, 12, with whom the girl was walking along a path.

But their statements did not match and the boys later changed their stories before recanting their claims, in the first of a    long series of mysterious incidents surrounding the unsolved case   .

Despite numerous false alarms about Angela’s current whereabouts over the years, her parents have stated that they will never give up hope.

“Until I am sure my daughter is dead, until I have a body to mourn, I will continue to search for her. Even if it means reaching the ends of the earth,” her father Catello once said.

Angela turned 30 in June 2023 and her parents revealed that they continue to celebrate her birthday every year by buying her a gift to put in her closet.

They hope that one day, after many years, they will be able to reunite with their little girl.

“These have been 30 difficult years for us,” her father said. “Not a day goes by without us thinking about Angela, who has always been present in our lives, even if not physically. We’re sure that sooner or later we’ll hug her again.”