Erika Malandra The Quirinale's decision brings to the forefront a legal case that began in 2008. On October 7, 2026, President Sergio Mattarella granted a partial pardon to Guido Gianni , a jeweler from Nicolosi sentenced to 12 years and four months for double murder and attempted murder. This measure extinguishes three years and two months of his sentence, after five years and three months had already been served.
Guido Gianni's pardon, his wife: "Today I'm crying with joy."
The news came from the Quirinale along with two other clemency orders . For Gianni , born in 1960, the pardon is partial and does not expunge his conviction. However, it reduces the remaining sentence to under four years. This threshold allows the Surveillance Court to evaluate whether he should be placed on probation with social services.
In his decision, Mattarella took into account the favorable opinion of the supervisory magistrate and the five years and three months he had already served. The jeweler is currently under house arrest due to a deferred sentence related to his health.
The most immediate reaction came from his wife, Maria Angela Distefano. Speaking to ANSA, she thanked the President of the Republic and called her husband her "hero."
She said she had cried until the day before from grief and, after the Quirinale's decision, from joy. "I hope to see him released soon," she said.
The woman also mentioned the petition launched in 2022 asking for a pardon. However, she preferred not to elaborate on the rest of the legal case. "I'm interested in seeing my husband free," she explained to ANSA. Now, she added, she and her lawyer will have to wait for the final count of the remaining years to be served.
Grazia, jeweler Gianni, and the Roggero case: why the two cases don't match
Guido Gianni 's story thus finds itself once again compared to that of Mario Roggero, the Grinzane Cavour jeweler sentenced to 14 years and nine months for killing two robbers and wounding a third. The comparison is inevitable, but the events are not the same. And the position before the Quirinale is also different.
In Gianni's case, the robbery dates back to February 18, 2008. Three men entered Nicolosi's jewelry store and attacked his wife, pointing a gun at her that later turned out to be a toy. Gianni fired two shots into the air. Then he fired again. Two robbers died, and a third was injured.
During the investigation, Gianni explained that he had fired to defend his wife and family and that he hadn't intended to kill. However, the judges concluded that the fatal shots had been fired when the robbers were fleeing. Self-defense was therefore not recognized, and the conviction became final.
This is where the discussion with Roggero ends. His case, too, is about his reaction to a robbery, but the legal process and personal circumstances are different. Gianni's pardon doesn't change the sentence: it affects the sentence still to be served. And, at least for now, this is the crux of the matter.