Milan, Nov. 11 (LaPresse) – The tower promised to combine “architectural sophistication with a meticulous study of green spaces.” Those who bought a home there would be able to “inhabit the future.” Now, 21 people — including builders, architects, and officials from the City of Milan — risk being sent to trial over the construction site of the Giardino Segreto Isola, which was seized in May 2024 by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Milan Guardia di Finanza as part of urban planning investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors Marina Petruzzella, Paolo Filippini, and Mauro Clerici have notified the 21 suspects of the conclusion of the preliminary investigation, with various charges including building violations, illegal land development, and falsification, concerning the demolition of an 11.95-meter, two-story office and laboratory building to make way for a new structure twice as high, with 61 apartments, located in the courtyard at Via Lepontina 7–9 in Milan. The project was authorized — as in dozens of similar cases now under investigation — through a Scia (certified notice of building activity) for renovation, despite the absence of an implementation plan and without “ensuring an adequate level of public services for the population.” Among those at risk of trial, who now have 20 days to request questioning or submit written defenses, are officials and managers from Palazzo Marino: former head of the Building Permit Office (Sportello Unico Edilizia), Giovanni Oggioni — arrested last March for corruption and obstruction of justice (now free but under reporting obligations) — already at the center of several investigations; Sue officials Maurizio Misciali, Marco Rimoldi, and Anna Rosa Voce; project certifiers and architects Giuseppe Bongiorno and Marco Guido Savorelli; and the owners or executives of the companies involved, including Danilo Pieri (Campazzino 90 srl), Ermanno Preo (director of Milano 05 srl), and Luigi Cerini (Lepontina 7–9 srl). Also under investigation is Marco Stanislao Prusicki, president of Milan’s Landscape Commission between 2018 and 2021, along with all members of the city’s technical advisory body from that period, for the opinions they issued on June 6 and July 18, 2019. Among them is architect Alessandro Scandurra, who was placed under house arrest in July in a corruption probe involving Coima’s Manfredi Catella, and released two weeks later by the Milan Review Tribunal. A hearing before the Court of Cassation, to which the Prosecutor’s Office has appealed, is expected this Wednesday.
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