In the first ruling on town planning in Milan, everyone was acquitted

A round of applause broke out in the courtroom from some of the defendants present. All eight defendants charged with building regulations offences and unauthorised land subdivision were acquitted because the acts did not constitute a criminal offence. This was the first verdict to be handed down following one of the many investigations opened by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office into town planning management, namely the case of the Torre Milano skyscraper on Via Stresa. The decision was made by Judge Paola Braggion of the Seventh Criminal Court. This is the first verdict following the numerous investigations launched – now almost four years ago – by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office into town planning management and alleged building code violations.

“Obviously we are satisfied” with the ruling, “but it is clear that there is also a great deal of bitterness.” This was stated by the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, on the sidelines of a press conference. “I said this some time ago, that is, a few weeks ago, and I can only reaffirm it: one section – and I emphasise, one section – of the public prosecutor’s office has taken a political approach to its work, and I believe this is not right,” he added. “Quite apart from the fact that the property market in Milan has suffered as a result, and that is a fact.” Addressing the prosecutors, the mayor continued, “I recognise that they are working in a climate of regulatory uncertainty. I am not talking about bad faith or malice; I am talking about a political approach and an exaggerated tone,” he added, “but I am in no way questioning their good faith, and I understand that when dealing with a legislative and regulatory quagmire such as that surrounding town planning in Italy – with a framework law dating back to 1942 – they too may face difficulties.” 

“The thing that really left a bitter taste in my mouth was the verbal abuse used by the prosecutors in backing up their charges,” continued Sala. There are two reasons for his bitterness: “The first is having seen people close to me, whose honesty I am absolutely certain of, being targeted. I’ll name one: the former councillor Tancredi, whose career and mental well-being have also been somewhat ruined. The second point is the constant use of adjectives, an apparent need to bolster their arguments with words intended to discredit our actions,” he said, before making an appeal to politicians. “My plea now to those in Parliament is this: drop the ‘Salva Milano’ initiative; there is nothing to save, and as you can see, we are pressing ahead with our work. But we must bear in mind that it is not in anyone’s interest – neither the cities nor our country – for such an important matter not to be regulated in a more up-to-date manner,” he concluded. 

Last April, Public Prosecutor Marina Petruzzella had sought eight convictions for the offences of building regulations breaches and unauthorised land subdivision, as well as the confiscation of the Tower. According to the investigation and the prosecution, in order to build that Tower – over 80 metres tall and 24 storeys high – as in other cases, a ‘SCIA with a binding undertaking’ had been used, i.e. a self-certification, rather than an implementation plan with an urban planning agreement, which would have taken into account the ancillary services to be provided in the area. According to the prosecutors, a new building had been ‘passed off’ as a renovation. This line of argument, which applies to many other cases, has been swept aside by this first verdict.

Specifically, the prosecution had sought a prison sentence of two years and four months and a fine of 50,000 euros for Giovanni Oggioni, former director of the council’s One-Stop Shop for Building Permits and former vice-chair of the Landscape Commission, who was also arrested in March 2025 in connection with another corruption investigation and is facing charges in several separate cases. The same sentences were sought for the entrepreneurs and builders Stefano and Carlo Rusconi. “A great weight has been lifted from our shoulders – the weight of injustice,” explained the Rusconis’ lawyer, Federico Papa. “We have felt very alone during this period, just as the buyers whose transactions were put on hold have felt alone. It has been a very gruelling trial. It was a matter of incorrect application of the law and flawed assessments on the part of the prosecutors.” 

The prosecutor had also sought, for those two minor offences, the maximum penalties of 2 years and 4 months’ imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 euros for two other defendants: Franco Zinna, a former director of Milan’s Town Planning Department, and Gianni Maria Beretta, an architect and designer. In addition, two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros had been sought for Francesco Mario Carrillo and Maria Chiara Femminis, and one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 16,000 euros for Pietro Ghelfi, three former officials of the One-Stop Building Permit Office. All eight defendants were fully acquitted, and the grounds for the verdict will be issued in 90 days. 

The City Council, the aggrieved party in the eyes of the public prosecutors, had not joined the proceedings as a civil claimant against the defendants. Indeed, In a written submission signed by Antonello Mandarano, director of the legal department of the Municipality of Milan, and filed for the trial concerning Torre Milano on Via Stresa—a document which *Il Foglio* was able to view—the municipal administration reiterated that it had always complied with the regulations governing urban regeneration since 2013, noting that its decisions had always been endorsed by the administrative courts. The brief sends a clear message to the judges: we do not agree with your ‘new judicial approach’; if we have changed the city’s building guidelines, it is ‘solely to avoid a proliferation of new criminal investigations, site seizures and charges’.