Italian police are investigating whether an elderly woman was murdered via a serving of spaghetti from a relative set to inherit €500,000 ($826,000) from her.

Maria Basso, 80, died shortly after being taken to a restaurant in Sicily by her great niece, Paola Pepe. The younger woman has been accused of altering her will and masterminding a plot to kill her.

During the meal, Basso ate a pasta dish despite being on a strict diet of only pureed or finely chopped food because she was otherwise at risk of choking.

The spaghetti became lodged in the 80-year-old’s airways, causing her death two days later.

The December 2022 death was initially attributed to natural causes but Pepe, 58, was later placed under house arrest after authorities launched a murder probe, having discovered she had amended her great aunt’s will just 48 hours before the meal.

Basso had saved a small fortune during a distinguished career with Italy’s ministry of foreign affairs. She had postings in Iran, Australia and the United States before she retired alone in Asiago, in Italy’s northern region of Veneto.

She had no children and was reported to have accumulated an inheritance worth some €500,000, which had been earmarked for a Christian youth education institute.

Other relatives of Basso’s told investigators they became suspicious of a plot to murder her and pilfer the money after distant relations from Sicily, including Pepe, turned up at her 80th birthday party out of the blue and disappeared with her for hours afterwards.

Police later discovered Pepe had made arrangements to transfer her great aunt to a care home in the southern coastal town of Aci Castello, about 1300 kilometres away from where she was being looked after.